Geographic Variation in Survival Rate and Height Growth of Pinus densiflora S. et Z. in Korea

This study was conducted to examine the geographic variation among provenances of Pinus densiflora in survival rate and height growth at four test plantations (Jungsun, Chungju, Naju, and Jeju). The plantations were parts of the eleven provenance trials of Pinus densiflora established by Korea Forest Research Institute in 1996. The survival rate and height growth were significantly different among test plantations at $p{\leq}0.01$. Latitude and longitude of test plantation were negatively correlated with survival rate and height growth. On the other hand, annual mean temperature, mean temperature (Nov.~Feb.), extremely low temperature (Dec.~Feb.), and annual mean growing days of test plantation were positively correlated with these two. The relationships between growth variables and geographic variables were analysed with canonical correlation analysis. A considerable amount of variation in survival rate and height growth was explained by latitude, annual mean growing days, extremely low temperature (Dec.~Feb.) and extremely high temperature (Nov.~Feb.) of provenances. It is estimated that up to 47.1% and 67.4% of the genetic variability in survival rate and height growth was attributable to the environmental variability of the provenances, respectively. The response surface curve of survival rate and height growth was plotted against latitude and longitude to examine growth performance of provenances for each test site. Generally, the local provenances showed better survival rate and height growth.