The Bioengineered Forest

by Strauss, Steven H.; Bradshaw, H. David

• ISBN13: 9781891853715
• ISBN10: 1891853716
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-08-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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. Unprecedented in its breath and diversity, The Bioengineered Forest begins with a survey of the range of forestry practices for which the use of biotechnologies 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. The Bioengineered Forest presents compelling arguments in favor of genetic engineering. Just as powerfully, it examines the significant technical and legal hurdles involved in genetic engineering, undesirable environmental and social consequences that might result from its misapplication, and the risks for businesses that are looking for near-term benefits.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xix
Contributors	xxi
PART I Economic and Technological Choices
1. Future Forests: Environmental and Social Contexts for Forest Biotechnologies	3	(9)
HAL SALWASSER
2. Biotechnology and the Forest Products Industry	12	(11)
ALAN A. LUCIER, MAUD HINCHEE, AND REX B. MCCULLOUGH
3. Biotechnology and the Global Wood Supply	23	(13)
ROGER A. SEDJO
4. Accomplishments and Challenges in Genetic Engineering of Forest Trees	36	(16)
RICK MEILAN, DAVE ELLIS, GILLES PILATE, AMY M. BRUNNER, AND JEFF SKINNER
5. Exotic Pines and Eucalypts: Perspectives on Risks of Transgenic Plantations	52	(24)
ROWLAND D. BURDON AND CHRISTIAN WALTER
6. Tree Biotechnology in the Twenty-First Century: Transforming Trees in the Light of Comparative Genomics	76	(25)
STEVEN H. STRAUSS AND AMY M. BRUNNER
PART II Ethical, Social, and Ecological Caveats
7. The Ethics of Molecular Silviculture	101	(11)
PAUL B. THOMPSON
8. Will the Marketplace See the Sustainable Forest for the Transgenic Trees?	112	(29)
DON S. DOERING
9. Environmental and Social Aspects of the Intensive Plantation/Reserve Debate	141	(22)
SHARON T. FRIEDMAN AND SUSAN CHARNLEY
10. Have You Got a License for That Tree? (And Can You Afford to Use It?)	163	(18)
NANCY S. BRYSON, STEVEN P. QUARLES, AND RICHARD J. MANNIX
11. Invasiveness of Transgenic versus Exotic Plant Species: How Useful Is the Analogy?	181	(9)
JAMES F. HANCOCK AND KAREN HOKANSON
12. Potential Impacts of Genetically Modified Trees on Biodiversity of Forestry Plantations: A Global Perspective	190	(18)
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	208	(21)
KENNETH F. RAFFA
Index	229