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Home → Publications → Tree Improvement and Genetics → Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference → 24th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference (1997) → Enhanged Detection of Genetic Effects From Forestry Field Tests Using Spatial Analysis

Enhanged Detection of Genetic Effects From Forestry Field Tests Using Spatial Analysis

The precision of forest genetic field tests is limited by heterogeneous environmental variation within blocks caused by gradients in moisture, nutrients, or other factors that vary over a scale smaller than plot size. This nonrandom variation reduces heritability and obscures genetic differences. Here, we use spatial analysis to remove environmental trends from field data and increased the statistical power to detect genetic effects. We applied a random field model to height data that was defined by position (row and column) in a field test. This model described broad environmental trends for a whole (10 x 10) tree family block plot. Residuals from the random field model contain "detrended" phenotypic information (systematic environmental variation removed) and decrease the intensity of autocorrelation between neighboring individuals.


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Author(s): J. A. Vasquez, David M. O'Malley, M. Gumpertz, Steven E. McKeand

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 1997

Section: Poster Abstracts