Integration of seed pelletization and precision micro-climate mapping technologies direct aerial seeding in response to climate change

气候变化对加拿大森林构成了重大威胁，因为树木在一次管理轮换中暴露在环境中长达50至100年。 由于树木不能足够快地适应气候条件的迅速变化，现有的森林可能在短时间内大面积遭受严重的生长损失、虫害和其他类型的疾病。 传统的重新造林能力可能不足以满足需求。 直接飞播为人工种植提供了一种替代办法，以便用适合未来气候条件的理想树种或树种组合在大面积上重新造林。 但是，直播的成功率并不像种植大苗那么可靠。 这种较高的风险主要来自于气候和微观场地气候因素的控制和预测的困难。 例如，大风可能导致种子在地面上分布不均，这反过来又会造成种子浪费，导致一个地区库存不足，另一个地区库存过多，并增加未来的间伐成本。 随着重量的增加，种子颗粒可以均匀分布，并有更好的机会到达矿物质土壤。在保水成分的帮助下，丸状包衣材料可以帮助减轻出苗时的脱水。拟议的研究将系统地研究种子和幼苗将经历的微观场地条件，开发一种根据生物物理表面（太阳辐射、温度、土壤湿度）的高精度地图对景观进行分类的方法，量化造粒过程的物理和生物影响，并开发针对特定微观场地条件进行优化的种子造粒公式。拟议的研究将集中在红云杉种子和田间试验将在新斯科舍省进行。预计结合种子造粒和精确的微网站和气候测绘技术可以导致种子发芽和幼苗存活的成功率大幅提高，同时减少种子的使用，并提供一种具有成本效益的替代森林再生方法，以应对气候变化引起的森林再生需求。

Climate change imposes a major threat to Canadian forests because trees are exposed to the environment for fifty to a hundred years during one management rotation. Since trees cannot adapt fast enough to rapid change from climate conditions, existing forests could suffer from severe growth loss, insect damage and other types of diseases over large areas in a short period of time. Traditional reforestation capacity may not be large enough to meet the demand. Direct aerial seeding offers an alternative for manual-planting to reforest large areas with desirable species or species mix that are suitable for future climate conditions. However, the success of direct seeding is not as reliable as planting of large seedlings. This higher risk mainly comes from the difficulty of controlling and predicting both climate and micro-site climatic factors. For example, blowing winds could cause uneven distribution of seeds on the ground, which in turn will cause a waste of seeds, lead to understocking in one area and overstocking in other areas, and increased thinning costs in the future. With increased weight, seed pellets could be distributed evenly and have a better chance of reaching mineral soil. With the help of water holding ingredients, pellet coating material could help to reduce dehydration of emerging seedlings. The proposed research will systematically study micro-site conditions that seeds and emerging seedling would experience, develop a method to classify landscape according to high precision maps of biophysical surfaces (solar radiation, temperature, soil moisture), quantify the physical and biological impacts of the pelletization process, and develop seed pelletization formulae that are optimized to specific micro-site conditions. The proposed research will focus on red spruce seeds and field trials will be conducted in Nova Scotia. It is expect that the combined seed pelletization and precision micro-site and climate mapping technology can lead to substantially increased success in seed germination and seedling survival, while reducing seed usage, and provide a cost effective alternative to forest regeneration methods in response to forest regeneration demand caused by climate change.