brosia beetle, Xyleborus glabratus Eichhoff. The pathogen is transmitted when female beetles attack and bore into the sapwood of susceptible trees, releasing conidia from their fungal transport organ (mycangia) (Harrington et al., 2008). Once inside, fungal conidia quickly disperse throughout the vascular system, leading to crown wilt, brown/desiccated foliage, and eventually tree death. All North American Lauraceae are susceptible to R. lauricola as demonstrated by natural or forced X. glabratus attack or experimental fungal inoculation, but symptom expression can differ between hosts . No host trees are more severely affected than Persea borbonia sensu stricto L. Spreng. (redbay). Persea borbonia is

Genetic parameters were estimated using a five-series multienvironment trial of Pinus taeda L. in the southern USA. There were 324 half-sib families planted in five test series across 37 locations. A set of six variance/covariance matrices for the genotype-by-environment (G × E) effect for tree height and diameter were compared on the basis of model fit. In single-series analysis, extended factor analytical models provided generally superior model fit to simpler models for both traits; however, in the combined-series analysis, diameter was optimally modeled using simpler variance/covariance structures. A three-way compound term for modeling G × E interactions among and within series yielded substantial improvements in terms of model fit and standard errors of predictions. Heritability of family means ranged between 0.63 and 0.90 for both height and diameter. Average additive genetic correlations among sites were 0.70 and 0.61 for height and diameter, respectively, suggesting the presence of some G × E interaction. Pairs of sites with the lowest additive genetic correlations were located at opposite ends of the latitude range. Latent factor regression revealed a small number of parents with large factor scores that changed ranks significantly between southern and northern environments.

The need for America to reduce its dependence on foreign oil is heavily debated in the news today. Reducing our need for foreign oil will result in an increase in domestic production of oil and natural gas here in the United States. Those who oppose more production in the United States often use the environment as a cornerstone of their argument. In Texas, companies that drill for oil and natural gas are under the microscope, and public awareness of the environmental impacts of their operations is at an all time high. Thus, it is important for citizens, companies, attorneys, and courts to understand the basics of environmental regulation and how the odd nomenclature and acronyms associated with environmental rules and environmental testing procedures may be misunderstood.

Fusarium circinatum causes pine pitch canker (PPC) disease and associated symptoms such as resinous lesions, mechanical weakness, and crown dieback that may lead to mortality in Pinus and Pseudotsuga spp. There are no ameliorative techniques available for the disease, and the genetic resistance among populations to support commercial plantation deployment has not been well characterized. In this study, we characterize the genetic control of PPC disease tolerance (and/or resistance) and predict the tolerance of families in existing breeding populations: open-pollinated (OP) half-sib and control-pollinated full-sib (FS) slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii Engelm.), OP loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), and advanced-generation OP hybrid slash × P. caribaea (Pinus elliottii var. elliottii Engelm. × Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis, caribaea, and hondurensis) using F. circinatum isolates obtained from three locations in Georgia and FL, USA. We describe a new experimental design that improves the accuracy of breeding value predictions, provides more precise genetic parameter estimates, and facilitates comparisons within and among taxa as well as comparisons among isolates. We found strong evidence for genetic control of the ratio of stem damage by F. circinatum, especially in slash pine and slash × P. caribaea hybrids. Loblolly and slash × P. caribaea hybrids exhibited less damage than slash pine. We observed a spectrum of virulence among F. circinatum isolate sources, which were not equally virulent in different pine taxa.