Genetic variability of Cedrela odorata Linnaeus: results of early performance of provenances and families from Mesoamerica grown in association with coffee

Fifty years of genetic studies: what to make of the large amounts of variation found within populations?

“…Such studies have typically focussed on variation at the regional or species range level, in relation to large-scale environmental (mostly climatic) gradients (Savolainen et al 2007;Alberto et al 2013). Examples abound in several tree species: to quote only a few, we may mention studies on oak bud burst (Ducousso et al 1996), poplar leaf phenology (Hall et al 2007), spruce bud burst and bud set (Mimura and Aitken 2010), Scots pine bud burst and frost resistance (Hurme et al 2000) and growth performance in Spanish cedar (Navarro et al 2004). The question of the adaptive relevance of clinal genetic variation was explicitly addressed in most such studies or underlay their experimental setup.…”

IntercroppingCedrela odoratawith Shrubby Crop Species to Reduce Infestation withHypsipyla grandellaand Improve the Quality of Timber

“…Despite its wide native range, individuals are not very common in natural forests and are mostly scattered in mixed semievergreen or semideciduous forests dominated by other species [4]. Due to extensive timber extraction and poor natural regeneration [5], the species is now considered to be endangered in Mesoamerica [6]. However, the demand for the wood, sold under the commercial name "Spanish Cedar, " remains high.…”

“…For example, much effort has been spent on the development of viable insecticides [11], pestresistant planting stock [6,12,13], and on the introduction of parasitoids, predators, or viruses [14]. Yet, up to now, none of these methods have proved effective in preventing damage [14].…”

“…Yet, up to now, none of these methods have proved effective in preventing damage [14]. Consequently, it is widely acknowledged that a signi�cant reduction in mortality can be achieved only by combining these measures with silvicultural management options, such as admixing with other tree species, in order to reduce the density of potential host trees [6,9,15,16]. In Central America, C. odorata is therefore frequently used and promoted, for example, as a shade tree in agroforestry systems alongside coffee [17,18] or cacao [19,20], in pastures [9], and in living fences [21,22].…”

“…It is widely acknowledged that such land-use systems can help to enrich the ecological value of the landscape [27,28], improve the economic situation of farmers [29,30], and also contribute to food security. Moreover, studies have shown that lateral competition in agroforestry systems can improve growth and quality of C. odorata [6,19]. However, rather than using the species for scattered shade trees between crops or in pastures, the approach of this study was to create a fully stocked forest plantation of C. odorata with the purpose of sawn wood production with a typical tree density for tropical forest plantations [31].…”