Seedwhere: A computer tool for tree planting and ecological restoration

It is generally recognized that plants are genetically adapted to the prevailing climate. 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. Thus mistakes in seed transfer in forest regeneration programs can be costly. Seedwhere is a Geographic Information System(GIS) tool designed to assist in making nursery stock and seed transfer decisions for forest regeneration activities over environmental gradients. Given a suitable database, Seedwhere maps out the similarity of a chosen location to the rest of the region of interest. The location could be a potential seed collection or planting area.