Forest Tree Facts
- Forest trees, the dominant life form in many ecosystems, play a critical role in the world economy and offer such environmental benefits as carbon sequestration, watershed protection, improved air quality, and recreational habitats.
- Forests, covering about 30% of the global land surface, provide structural and functional habitat for two-thirds of the Earth's terrestrial species and contain greater than 90% of all terrestrial biomass.
- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that, with improvements in plant productivity and conversion efficiencies, 25% of U.S.-imported oil could be displaced by plantation-grown trees by 2050.
- Among biologically derived materials, wood-based products are second only to maize (corn) in their contribution to the U.S. economy and account for $400 billion worldwide.
- According to The State of Canada's Forests, 2002-2003 Report, Canada has about 10% of the world's forests, comprising 417.6 million hectares (1.032 billion acres), home to about two-thirds of Canada's estimated 140,000 species of plants, animals, and microorganisms.
- In Canada alone, forests are the engine behind an industry worth ~$74 billion.
- Poplar and aspen currently represent about 13.9% of Canada's growing biomass.
- The genus Populus, a model for forest tree genetics, is one of only two genera in the family Salicaceae (and includes cottonwood, aspen, and willow). First evidences in the fossil record date back approximately 60 million years and now serve as markers for the study of all angiosperms, or perennial woody plants.
- Poplar wood is used in such products as plywood, pallets, and crates, and its fine paper pulp makes it ideal for books and magazines, veneers, and furniture.
- Water treatment operations and dairy farms use poplar to absorb wastewater produced by their industries, thus reducing pollution output levels.
- Poplars can be used to restore sites contaminated by heavy metals associated with mining and smelting activities.
- Poplars can also be used as a viable remedy to rampant erosion.
- The Black Cottonwood, selected for this sequencing project, is one of the tallest broadleaf hardwood trees in the west, native to the Pacific coast from San Diego to Alaska.
- The sequenced DNA was isolated from a specimen collected along the banks of the Nisqually River in Washington State.
- Renowned for their vigor, these poplars can grow over a dozen feet a year, topping off at 200 feet and six feet in diameter.
For more information, contact
David Gilbert
Joint Genome Institute
(925) 296-5643
DEGilbert@lbl.gov
