This little-known ash plantation off Porter Road near the Penn State's Swine Research Facility - the largest collection of green ash germplasm in one location in the world - may play a role in saving the species. over the last few decades, researchers maintained the plantation to study the effects of climate change on trees. Steiner conducted a provenance trial - moving trees that had evolved in different climates to one location and carefully monitoring their growth and other characteristics - with the goal of understanding how species adapt to their environments. Mixed in were a small number of white ash trees. He grew the seedlings for two years before methodically planting 2,100 of them, all 12 feet apart, in a seven-acre plot. Steiner, who also is director of The Arboretum at Penn State, collected seeds from wild green ash trees in 27 states and Canadian provinces in the fall of 1975. This suggests that some ash genotypes, especially on favorable sites, will survive. Genetics moderated the rapidity with which emerald ash borers injured and killed trees, researchers learned. "We found that genetic variation exists in trees from around the country, and through time - especially as the emerald ash borer population collapses because host trees are rapidly disappearing - the resistance that we observed will likely ensure the survival of the species," said Kim Steiner, professor of forest biology, College of Agricultural Sciences. The study is unique because it took place at a plantation of ash trees planted on Penn State's University Park campus in the mid-1970s. The research shows some ash trees have varying degrees of resistance to the strangely beautiful, invasive beetle from Asia.
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