SeedWhere*
A Seed & Nursery Stock Decision Support Tool
To help make the best use of source identified seed, to ensure adapted, healthy reforestation efforts
Project Team
- Barb Boysen, Coordinator, FGCA
- Cathy Nielsen, Forest Specialist, Southern Region Science, OMNR
- Mike Dunkley, GIS Support Office, Southern Region Science, OMNR
From Dr. Dan McKenney, CFS, Sault Ste Marie, author of SeedWhere Manual v3.1:
It is generally recognized that plants are genetically adapted to prevailing climate. However, there are very few genecological studies that quantify these relationships. Managers generally rely on intuition when moving seed across environmental gradients. Planting stock is often moved across environmental gradients with little knowledge of the ecological risks. For long-lived species (e.g. forest trees) this introduces risks of increased mortality, lowered potential growth rates, and increased susceptibility to insects and diseases.
SeedWhere is a computer-based tool to support decisions on moving plant material across environmental gradients. The Gower similarity metric has been invoked as an Avenue extension in the ARCVIEW Geographic Information System. The program can be used to map the similarity of potential seed collection sites across large regions. Considerable effort has gone into developing the required GIS databases for North America. While no panacea, SeedWhere helps by addressing the following questions:
- How similar are the environmental conditions at a seed collection site to other areas?
- How similar are the environmental conditions at a regeneration area to potential seed collection sites?
- Where are the environmental conditions similar to a particular seedlot source?
Required Hardware and Software
- SeedWhere v3.1 and the climate data required to run SeedWhere (e.g. Great Lakes Region data.
- PC with Arcview 3.2 with the Spatial Analyst module.
Support
- Funding for this work has been provided by The Forest Gene Conservation Association and the Ontario Governments Climate Change Initiative.
- Inkind technical Support has been provided by FGCA (Boysen), OMNR Southern Region Science staff (Nielsen, Dunkley) and CFS (McKenney).
Course Material
Binder Contents
- Introduction
- Summary of Instructions to perform a SeedWhere analysis
- CD-SeedWhere v 3.1-modified, January 2004, Mike Dunkley, OMNR
- SeedWhere v3.1 Manual, January 2001, Dr. Dan McKenney, CFS
- A Review of SeedWhere, May 2003, Cathy Nielsen, OMNR
- MNR Tree Seed Zone Policy
- Forms
-
- SeedWhere Map Interpretation Form, February 2004
- Tree Seed Zones of Southern Ontario
- Ontario's Natural Selections Forms 2a/2b-Registration of Source
Manuals
- Introduction to Arcview 3.2-MNR Training Course
- Ontario's Natural Selections Seed Source Certification Manual & Poster Brochure
Future Efforts
The FGCA is dedicated to providing future support to promote the appropriate use of SeedWhere to direct the movement of seed and stock supplies in southcentral Ontario. This support will include:
- Use-FGCA will provide SeedWhere services to their clients and will encourage and support the use of SeedWhere by OTSP for their own needs, and also as a service to clients
- Promotion - Hold workshops to train partners (Conservation Authorities, Trees Ontario, etc) to act as additional SeedWhere Users and Service Providers
- SeedWhere enhancement-FGCA will facilitate GIS technical support from OMNR and Climate Model Support from CFS.
-
- Develop SeedWhere in an ArcGIS format
- Explore a web based format
- Incorporate interpretation guidelines into software.
- Information - Provide information on adaptive variation by species, as it becomes available, to help refine SeedWhere interpretations
For more information, contact Barb Boysen, FGCA, at 705-755-3284
*SeedWhere v3.1, January 2001, Natural Resources Canada, Dr. Dan McKenney 705-541-5740 ext 2316, Canadian Forest Service, 1219 Queen St. East, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 5M7