Agenda
36th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference
Overcoming Tree Improvement Bottlenecks with New Technologies
June 7 - 9, 2021
Virtual Conference
The virtual meeting includes five two-hour sessions that start on the morning of Monday, June 7 and run through the morning of Wednesday, June 9, and include plenary presentations, volunteer presentations and "lightning" poster presentations.
Continuing Education Credits & Certificate: Each 2 hour session has been approved for 2 Category 1 CFEs by the Society of American Foresters (SAF). To earn credit and/or receive an certificate for a session, you must view the session through completion and then return to your open browser window and complete STEP-2 of the webinar workflow. STEP-2 will allow you to enter your SAF ID (if applicable) and certify your attendance to receive credit and a certificate. You will receive an email with your certificate and if you entered your SAF ID, your attendance will be reported automatically to SAF the first week of July.
CONFERENCE AGENDA
(All times are Eastern Time)
Day 1 (June 7)
9:45 – 10:00 am - Welcome from Scott Merkle Conference Organizers
10:00 am – 11:30 am - (30-minute talks)
Moderator: Dana Nelson
Speakers:
- The genetic (and funding) opportunities, challenges and expectations facing tree improvement, even with world-class genomics resources: A Populus case study – Gerald Tuskan
- Something in the air – Drone-based high-throughput phenotyping of trees – Ingo Ensminger
- Spectral-based tools for disease resistance phenotyping in trees – Anna Conrad
11:30 am – 12:00 noon - Speaker panel for questions/discussion
Session 2: Volunteer Oral Presentations I
2:00 – 3:30 pm
Concurrent Session 2A: Pine genetics and breeding (15-minute talks)
Moderator: Marcus Warwell
Speakers:
- Estimating individual tree heights in loblolly pine biomass plantation using drone imagery and LiDAR-derived measurements – Jessica A. Maynor
- Pitro50K: A multispecies genotyping array for tropical pines – Colin Jackson
- Application of MateSel software in a loblolly pine breeding program – Trevor D. Walker
- Development of elite loblolly pine families for the Piedmont region using clonal progeny testing and genomics – W. Patrick Cumbie
- Rangewide patterns of genetic diversity in Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens), an Appalachian endemic – Kevin M. Potter
- Variation in salt tolerance of slash pine (Pinus elliottii) families – Ronald Schmidtling
Concurrent Session 2B: Forest health and restoration (15-minute presentations)
Moderator: Caterina Villari
Speakers:
- Conservation and population genetics of the federally endangered Torreya taxifolia (Taxaceae) – Lauren Eserman
- Evolutionary origins of the hemlock woolly adelgid resistance-disparity between Asian and North American hemlocks (Tsuga sp.). – Karl C. Fetter
- Development of a new genetic transformation system for white and green ash using embryogenic cultures – A. Ryan Tull
- Mapping QTLs for blight resistance and morphological traits with complex chestnut families – Shenghua Fan
- Evidence of Fraser fir partial resistance to the balsam wooly adelgid – Austin M. Thomas
- Saving butternut – Jeanne Romero-Severson
3:30 – 4:00 pm - Speaker panel for questions
Day 2 (June 8)
Session 3: Volunteer Oral Presentations II
10:00 – 11:30 am
Concurrent Session 3A: Hardwood genetics and breeding - (15 minute talks)
Moderator: Fred Raley
Speakers:
- White oak genetics and tree improvement program: Range-wide collaborative effort, early results, and lessons learned – Laura DeWald
- Assembly and annotation of the green ash genome – Matthew Huff
- Fast-track transformation and flowering for rapid-cycle breeding in poplar – C.J. Tsai
- Exploring the genetic diversity of an extinct tree species in the wild, Franklinia alatamaha, using genotyping-by-sequencing of the surviving cultivated population – Heather J. Gladfelter
- CRISPR/Cas9-knockout of trichome-regulating MYBs in Populus alter light sensitivity and wax composition – William P. Bewg
- Ribosomal DNA organization and genomic composition of satellite chromosome in American (Castanea dentata (Marshall) bork.) And Chinese (C. mollissima Blume) chestnut – Nurul Islam-Faridi
Concurrent Session 3B: Forest health - pine pathogens, insects and stress -(15 minute presentations)
Moderator: Wellington Muchero
Speakers:
- Rapid-phenotyping of fusiform rust disease resistance in loblolly pine through vibrational spectroscopy – Simone Lim-Hing
- NLR diversity and candidate fusiform rust resistance genes in loblolly pine – Daniel Ence
- Longitudinal study on in-field trial rust resistance and seedling screening results – Stephanie Fong
- Predicting genetic parameters and tolerance to pitch canker in slash pine – Andrew Sims
- Hyperspectral imaging for the prediction of freeze damage and minimum winter temperature at seed source origin of loblolly pine seedlings – Kitt G. Payn
11:30 am – 12:00 noon - Speaker panel for questions
Session 4: Lighting "poster" presentations
2:00 pm – 3:40 pm - (5-minute presentations)
Moderator: Gary Peter
Presentations:
- Genomic assembly comparisons of four Florida Fusarium circinatum isolates – Katherine Smith
- Genomic characterization of growth and drought tolerance in east Texas loblolly pine – Ian MacLachlan
- Can sucrose pathway manipulation affect regrowth of coppiced Populus? – Trevor Tuma
- A delve into the unknown of sulfate tranporters’ role in elemental movement and stress response in poplar – Samantha Surber
- In search of sassafras with resistance to laurel wilt disease – Tyler Dreaden
- Recovering two elite hybrid sweetgum clones for propagation by somatic embryogenesis – Nicole A. Locke
- Propagation and conservation of three rare North American ash species using somatic embryogenesis – Mason M.W. Richins
- Fusiform rust resistance of loblolly pine inter-provenance hybrids – Stephen Goodfellow
- Combined effect of temperature and water stress on germination and plant growth of Magnolia pugana, Populus luziarum and P. primaveralepensis endemic and endangered species from western Mexico – César Jacobo-Pereira
- Searching orphan genes in hybrid poplar – Chen Hsieh
- Additive and dominance genetic parameters of mature-aged traits in Arkansas populations of shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) – Chen Ding
- Conservation genetics and resistance breeding at the Harrison Experimental Forest – Charles Burdine
- Sustainability genetics for American white oak (Quercus alba) – C. Dana Nelson
- Genetic testing based on pedigree reconstruction and spatial analysis in a plantation of Larix kaempferi – Kyungmi Lee
3:40 – 4:00 pm - Breakout rooms for judges to talk to student poster presenters and for
other meeting participants to speak with poster presenters
Day 3 (June 9)
10:00 – 11:40 am - (30-minute talks)
Introduction: John Carlson
Moderator: CJ Tsai
Speakers:
- Epigenetic influences on plant growth response, and potential for enhancing stress resilience in tree species – Sally Mackenzie
- A quantitative Reduced Representation Sequencing (qRRS) of genomes; a paradigm shift in NGS-based genotyping – Bode Olukolu
- Genomics in rare species conservation: Teasing apart evolutionary history and adaptation – Jill Hamilton
11:40 am – 12:00 noon - Speaker panel for questions/discussion
12:00 noon – 12:10 pm - Best presentation awards and Research Support Competition announcements
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