Selection of flood-resistant and susceptible seedlings of Populustrichocarpa Torr. & Gray

Abstract

To identify Populustrichocarpa plants with contrasting levels of resistance to flooding, seedlings from five diverse riparian sites were evaluated for growth and survival under flooding conditions. All seedlings survived 6 or 8 weeks of flooding. Total branch length and leaf number were reduced in all flooded plants relative to nonflooded controls. There was also a marked reduction in individual leaf area and increased stomatal resistance of flooded plants compared with nonflooded controls. Growth of flooded and nonflooded plants was highly variable within populations and no significant trends were found among populations. Therefore differential responses to flooding can be selected for within any of the seed collection sites. Plants that were rated as particularly resistant or susceptible fo flooding were selected for further study.