Bioengineered Forest, The: Challenges for Science and Society

About this book

Bioengineering offers many opportunities for forestry: bioengineered trees can produce more valuable wood, help reclaim contaminated land, improve the health of urban trees, and facilitate pest management. But the ecological risks are complex, and public views about the ethical acceptability of genetic engineering vary widely.

The Bioengineered Forest begins with a survey of the range of forestry practices for which the use of biotechnology might be appropriate. Scholars representing diverse academic perspectives and viewpoints examine in depth the economic and environmental rationale for forest biotechnologies and the current state of technology with respect to gene performance and safety. They consider the contemporary political and economic environment in which bioengineering is being introduced and where the `genomic revolution' might take forestry and genetic engineering in the future.

Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Contributors PART I Economic and Technological Choices 1. Future Forests: Environmental and Social Contexts for Forest Biotechnologies Hal Salwasser 2. Biotechnology and the Forest Products Industry Alan A. Lucier, Maud Hinchee, and Rex B. McCullough 3. Biotechnology and the Global Wood Supply Roger A. Sedjo 4. Accomplishments and Challenges in Genetic Engineering of Forest Trees Rick Meilan, Dave Ellis, Gilles Pilate, Amy M. Brunner, and Jeff Skinner 5. Exotic Pines and Eucalypts: Perspectives on Risks of Transgenic Plantations Rowland D. Burdon and Christian Walter 6. Tree Biotechnology in the Twenty-First Century: Transforming Trees in the Light of Comparative Genomics Steven H. Strauss and Amy M. Brunner PART II Ethical, Social, and Ecological Caveats 7. The Ethics of Molecular Silviculture Paul B. Thompson 8. Will the Marketplace See the Sustainable Forest for the Transgenic Trees? Don S. Doering 9. Environmental and Social Aspects of the Intensive Plantation/Reserve Debate Sharon T. Friedman and Susan Charnley 10. Have You Got a License for That Tree? (And Can You Afford to Use It?) Nancy S. Bryson, Steven P. Quarles, and Richard J. Mannix 11. Invasiveness of Transgenic versus Exotic Plant Species: How Useful Is the Analogy? James F. Hancock and Karen Hokanson 12. Potential Impacts of Genetically Modified Trees on Biodiversit of Forestry Plantations: A Global Perspective Brian Johnson and Keith Kirby 13. Transgenic Resistance in Short-Rotation Plantation Trees: Benefits, Risks, Integration with Multiple Tactics, and the Need to Balance the Scales Kenneth F. Raffa Index

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Biography

Steven H. Strauss is a professor in the Department of Forest Science at Oregon State University.Toby Bradshaw is a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington.