New Zealand Logger

Seeing the forest for the trees

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SCIENTISTS FROM TAURANGA’S PLANTTECH RESEARCH Institute are celebratin­g their involvemen­t in two successful funding bids to the Ministry for Business, Innovation & Employment’s (MBIE) Endeavour Fund, New Zealand’s largest contestabl­e research fund. In this year’s round of funding, 69 new scientific research projects were awarded more than $244 million.

A $9.6 million MBIE-funded project, led by Scion, Seeing the forest for the trees: transformi­ng tree phenotypin­g for future forests, involves using PlantTech’s capability in hyperspect­ral imagery analysis to support research that will identify the best genotype to plant in different environmen­ts for commercial production and indigenous uses. This is in addition to a $1 million successful bid for a two-year internatio­nal project, that will use airborne remote sensors to discover what is causing plant stress in kiwifruit orchards.

The five-year project Seeing the Forest for the Trees, will explore the phenotype (characteri­stics) of trees to identify trees that grow well in specific environmen­ts.

The research programme is focussed on forest phenotypin­g using remotely sensed data and advanced concepts in data science. Combined with genomic data, Scion expects to select and breed trees with traits such as high carbon storage and resistance to disease and drought. For example, in Gisborne it may become more important to use a drought resistant radiata pine if droughts increase in severity.

Scion Data and Geospatial Intelligen­ce Principal Scientist, Dr

Mike Watt, welcomes PlantTech’s participat­ion in the project, citing its advanced capability in hyperspect­ral imaging technologi­es. PlantTech will use this technology to assess the attributes of trees that can’t be seen by the naked eye, such as the tree’s ability to deal with water stress or disease.

“You can’t see those problems so easily with the eye, but hyperspect­ral imagery can be used to look beyond the visible wavelength­s to characteri­se these traits,” Dr Watt says.

By the end of the project, Scion plans to have a climate-based deployment guideline developed for radiata pine. Effectivel­y, this will be a map showing where each genotype can be allocated throughout New Zealand to optimise productivi­ty or resistance against water or drought stress.

“We know that if you optimally allocate different genotypes to the right site, then you can get a gain of 20% in productivi­ty. That translates into quite a bit of value for radiata pine,” says Dr Watt.

Radiata pine is not the only focus of the programme. Indigenous forests will also be included, as Scion aims to explore the cultural links that Māori have to forests and taonga (treasure) species.

For example, the researcher­s want to find out what cultural phenotypes are important to Māori, such as a trees’ potential for carving. It is hoped that cultural phenotypin­g could incentivis­e the planting of indigenous tree species, leading to more diverse forests and more opportunit­ies for Māori to harvest indigenous trees for carving or other traditiona­l uses

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