“…Wood density is a key trait because it is often correlated with other commercially important, wood-quality traits (Panshin and de Zeeuw, 1980). In many species with diffuse-porous wood, there is no significant correlation between growth rate and wood density, suggesting that faster-growing trees could be selected without Article published by EDP Sciences affecting wood quality (Zobel and Jett, 1995); but the correlation may be positive in some species and negative in others, and it may also vary among provenances within a species (e.g., Sotelo Montes et al, 2006;Weber and Sotelo Montes, 2008). In addition, wood density and other wood properties tend to be under stronger genetic control than growth traits (Zobel and Jett, 1995), so selection based on wood density may be more effective than selection based on tree growth rate.…”