Chapters authored
Genetic Variability of Mountain Pine (Pinus hartwegii Lindl) in the Protection of Flora and Fauna Area Nevado de Toluca
Mountain pine (Pinus hartwegii Lindl) is one of the most abundant conifers in the Protection of Flora and Fauna Area Nevado de Toluca in central Mexico; this natural protected area is threatened by urbanization; this has been manifested in forest health; there has been an increase in forest parasites like bark beetles and dwarf mistletoes, making necessary improve forest management and conservation, hence our objective was to study the genetic diversity of mountain pine under the attack of parasites and to generate information that could be used to improve strategies of conservation of these forests. We classified sampled trees into four categories according to the type of parasite present in a tree (bark beetle: BB; dwarf mistletoe: DM; bark beetle and dwarf mistletoe: BM and non-attacked trees or healthy trees: HT). Genetic diversity was low in comparison with other pine species, but we observed an interesting issue: trees attacked by bark beetle and dwarf mistletoe had higher levels of heterozygosis: Henc = 0.1924 and Henc = 0.1993, respectively. These results suggest that trees with bark beetle and dwarf mistletoes may have higher genetic variability and are a highly valuable genetic resource for mountain pine.
Part of the book: Genetic Diversity in Plant Species