Tree breeding

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/tree-breeding

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the ecological significance?Crucial for developing climate-resilient forests, disease resistance, and enhanced carbon sequestration
2. What is the economic impact?Drives productivity in forestry, agriculture, and related industries through improved tree stock
3. How do scientists make trees grow faster or stronger?Scientists look at the genes that control traits like growth speed or wood strength, then select parent trees that have those good genes and cross them so their offspring inherit them.
4. Why do trees need to be bred for disease resistance?Breeding trees for disease resistance helps keep forests healthy, so pests and illnesses like Dutch elm disease or chestnut blight don’t wipe out whole trees.

Heritability: A measure of how much a trait's variation in a population is due to genetic factors.
Progeny Testing: Evaluating the genetic quality of parent trees by assessing the performance of their offspring.
Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS): Using DNA markers to identify desirable genes in young trees, speeding up the breeding process.
Genomic Selection (GS): Using genome-wide marker data to predict the breeding value of individuals.