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Forest Research home > Contact us > People
Steve Lee, Bsc, PhD
Programme Leader, Forest Management DivisionAfter graduating in Ecological Sciences at Edinburgh University in 1977, Steve spent six years as a forest manager with the Forestry Commission in South Scotland. He joined Forest Research in 1983 to become the Project Leader for Conifer Breeding. Steve gained a PhD in the quantitative genetics of Sitka spruce in 1997, again from Edinburgh University. As well as experience of breeding conifers in Britain, Steve has spent time studying the breeding of loblolly pine in North Carolina and radiata pine in New Zealand. Current roleHead of the Conifer Breeding Unit and Programme Leader within Forest Management Division Responsibilities cover all aspects of work relating to the breeding of conifer species in Britain. Overall, the work involves: planning experiments, co-ordinating data collection and data analysis to estimate the genetic value of parents and progeny from which new breeding and deployment populations may be selected promoting and demonstrating genetic gain; and investigating new techniques to speed up the rate of genetic gain, to reduce costs to the forest industry The programme covers five sub-projects: - Clonal Forestry
Promoting the potential of clonal forestry in Britain - demonstrating the superior gains from this means of deployment by analysing data from existing trails and establishing new field-based clonal trials. - Marker Aided Selection
A new bio-tech. programme designed to identify superior genotypes in the laboratory years before traditional field trials. Initial work involves planting the world’s largest Sitka spruce clonal test to ensure the best possible correlation between field performance and molecular markers in the lab. - Forward selection in full-sib progeny trails
Bringing together Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (BLUP) -generated breeding values for a number of different traits into a single index value, which indicates an individual’s overall economic value. - Deployment of improved planting stock
Promoting the best-available planting stock to the forest industry from seed orchards, family mixtures or use of new clonal-forestry technologies. Involves efficient management of pollination and grafting programmes and close liaison with scientist working on somatic embryogenesis and cryopreservation. - Wood quality studies
In conjunction with colleagues in the Timber Quality team, investigating the genetic variation and economic value of various internal traits contributing towards the strength of Sitka spruce timber with the objective of increasing the proportion of timber satisfying higher construction grades.
Current programmes and contractsBreeding and production of conifers
Programme Leader Selection and testing of conifers
Programme Leader TreeBreedEX: The European forest tree breeding infrastructure network
(EU Co-ordinating Action; 2006-2010) Affiliations and achievementsResearch areas- Progeny and clonal testing
- Prediction of economic and genetic gains
- Estimation of breeding values
- Early selection
Main recent publicationsVanderklein, D., Martinez-Vilalta, J., Lee, S.J. & Mencuccini, M. (2007). Plant size, not age, regulates growth and gas exchange in grafted Scots pine trees. Tree Physiology 27 (1), 71-79. Lee, S.J., Woolliams, J., Samuel, C.J.A. & Malcolm, D.C. (2007). A study of population variation and inheritance in Sitka spruce. Silvae Genetica 56 (1), 36-44. Lee, S.J. (2006).  It's a family affair. 'Full-sib' families are a new generation of improved Sitka spruce planting stock (PDF-398K). Forestry & British Timber 35 (12) December 2006, 14-16. Lee, S.J. & A'Hara, S. (2006). Marker aided selection in Sitka spruce. Forestry & British Timber 35 (1) January 2006, 14-16. Nuopponen, M.H., Birch, G.M., Sykes, R.J., Lee. S.J. & Stewart, D. (2006). Estimation of wood density and chemical composition by means of diffuse reflectance mid-infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT-MIR) spectroscopy. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 54, 34-40. Hubert, J. & Lee, S.J. (2005). A review of the relative roles of silviculture and tree breeding in tree improvement: the example of Sitka spruce in Britain and possible lessons for hardwood breeding. In: Genetic improvement of broadleaved trees. Papers resulting from a conference 'Better trees, better profits' organised by the Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, March 2004, edited by G Hemery and P Savill. Special issue Forestry 78 (2) 109-120.
Livingston, A.L., Cameron, A.D.,. Petty, P. J.A, and Lee, S.J. (2005). Effect of growth rate on wood properties of genetically improved Sitka spruce. Accepted by Forestry. Philippe, G., Lee, S.J., Schüte, G., Héois, B. (2004). Flower stimulation is cost-effective in Douglas-fir seed orchards. Accepted by Forestry. Lee, S.J. (2004). The products from conifer tree breeding in Britain. Forestry Commission Information Note 58, Edinburgh, Scotland. Lee, S.J., Cottrell, J., and John, A. (2004) .Advances in biotechnology - powerful tools for tree breeding and genetic conservation. Forestry Commission Information Note 59, Edinburgh, Scotland. Lee, S.J. and Connolly, T. (2004). Selection of parents for the Corsican pine breeding population in Britain. Forestry, Vol 77, No. 3. Lee, S.J. and Matthews, R. (2004). An indication of the likely gains from improved Sitka spruce planting stock. Forestry Commission Information Note, Edinburgh, Scotland. (recently completed internal refereeing) Lee, S.J (2003). Breeding Hybrid Larch in Britain. Forestry Commission Information Note, Edinburgh, 3p. Lee, S.J., Woolliams, J., Samuel, C.J.A. and Malcolm, D.C. (2002). A study of population variation and inheritance in Sitka spruce: II Age trends in genetic parameters and for vigour traits and optimum selection ages. Silvae Genetica 51, 2-3, 55 - 64. Lee, S.J., Woolliams, J., Samuel, C.J.A. and Malcolm, D.C. (2002). A study of population variation and inheritance in Sitka spruce: III Age trends in genetic parameters and optimum selection ages for wood density, and genetic correlations with vigour traits. Silvae Genetica 51, 4, 143-151. Lee, S.J. (2002) Selection of parents for the Scots pine breeding population in Britain. Forestry, Vol 75, No. 3 293-303. Lee, S.J. (2001) Management of the Sitka spruce breeding and production populations. Forestry Commission Information Note, Edinburgh, Scotland. 4p. Lee, S.J. (2001). Selection of parents for the Sitka spruce breeding population in Britain and the strategy for the next breeding cycle. Forestry, Vol. 74, No. 2, 129 - 143.
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