University of Alberta researchers have, for the first time, captured a much better view of what may be contributing to failures in lodgepole pine seed orchards a tree essential to Alberta's forest industry.
The researchers used synchrotron microcomputed tomography, an advanced 3D imaging method usually used in medicine, in a pilot study to visually explore why some pollinated female pine cones, known as conelets, are healthy while others die long before they fully develop.
Carried out at the Saskatoon-based Canadian Light Source, the technique provided a clearer view of the internal reproductive structures of healthy and unhealthy conelets a big improvement over previous low-resolution images, says study co-author Barb Thomas, a professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences.
