1
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. J. Pastorino, P. Marchelli (eds.), Low Intensity Breeding of Native Forest
Trees in Argentina, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56462-9_1
Chapter 1
Native Forests Claim for Breeding
in Argentina: General Concepts and Their
State
Mario J. Pastorino
1.1 Beginnings of Genetic Studies of Forest Tree Species
Native to Argentina
The first genetic studies on forest trees in Argentina were carried out with exotic
fast-growing species and in relation to their productive use. These antecedents,
conducted mainly by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (Instituto
Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, INTA), date back to the 1950s and were
based on field trials of poplars, willows, pines, and eucalypts, which were eventually developed as formal genetic improvement programs (Marcó et al. 2016).
It was not until the 1980s that genetic studies of native forest species began. The
initial work was carried out at the University of Buenos Aires, where the first
doctoral thesis on population genetics of a native forest species (Saidman 1985)
was defended. Since the 1990s, new scientific groups commenced to develop with
similar lines of research, in several INTA groups and in other national universities
such as Comahue, Misiones, and Córdoba, expanding the objects of study to a
variety of genera and species.
In the beginning, the lack of knowledge about the genetic resources of the forest
species from Argentina promoted studies of genetic characterization of their natural
populations, by means of genetic markers (initially isoenzymes and then RAPD,
AFLP, RFLP, and more recently SSR). These first steps advanced toward the study
of demo-stochastic evolutionary processes (i.e., drift and gene flow) using neutral
genetic markers as tools, and a little later, toward the study of adaptation and phenotypic plasticity through the analysis of variation in quantitative traits in common
garden trials. Currently, this type of approach continues to expand the range of species involved and questions addressed, and furthermore, the use of new tools for the
M. J. Pastorino (*)
Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB) INTA-CONICET,
Bariloche, Argentina
e-mail: pastorino.mario@inta.gob.ar
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. J. Pastorino, P. Marchelli (eds.), Low Intensity Breeding of Native Forest
Trees in Argentina, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56462-9_1
Chapter 1
Native Forests Claim for Breeding
in Argentina: General Concepts and Their
State
Mario J. Pastorino
1.1 Beginnings of Genetic Studies of Forest Tree Species
Native to Argentina
The first genetic studies on forest trees in Argentina were carried out with exotic
fast-growing species and in relation to their productive use. These antecedents,
conducted mainly by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (Instituto
Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, INTA), date back to the 1950s and were
based on field trials of poplars, willows, pines, and eucalypts, which were eventually developed as formal genetic improvement programs (Marcó et al. 2016).
It was not until the 1980s that genetic studies of native forest species began. The
initial work was carried out at the University of Buenos Aires, where the first
doctoral thesis on population genetics of a native forest species (Saidman 1985)
was defended. Since the 1990s, new scientific groups commenced to develop with
similar lines of research, in several INTA groups and in other national universities
such as Comahue, Misiones, and Córdoba, expanding the objects of study to a
variety of genera and species.
In the beginning, the lack of knowledge about the genetic resources of the forest
species from Argentina promoted studies of genetic characterization of their natural
populations, by means of genetic markers (initially isoenzymes and then RAPD,
AFLP, RFLP, and more recently SSR). These first steps advanced toward the study
of demo-stochastic evolutionary processes (i.e., drift and gene flow) using neutral
genetic markers as tools, and a little later, toward the study of adaptation and phenotypic plasticity through the analysis of variation in quantitative traits in common
garden trials. Currently, this type of approach continues to expand the range of species involved and questions addressed, and furthermore, the use of new tools for the
M. J. Pastorino (*)
Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB) INTA-CONICET,
Bariloche, Argentina
e-mail: pastorino.mario@inta.gob.ar