Nguyen Hoang Nghia
Forest Science Institute of Vietnam
There are more than 50 conifer species in Vietnam, of which 33 of them are native, so they occupy a priority place in conservation and development programs. Most conifer species occur in very difficult site and climatic conditions; natural forest is still degraded or fragmented, and natural regeneration is bad, therefore genetic conservation of conifer species requires a high priority. Quite a high number of conifers of Vietnam are facing danger of extinction. Of these, 3 species, namely Cupressus tonkinensis, Glyptostrobus pensilis and Taxus wallichiana, are classified at the Critically Endangered (CR) level (9%) according to IUCN categories; 10 species at EN level (Xanthocyparis vietnamensis, Calocedrus rupestris, Taiwania cryptomerioides, Cephalotaxus mannii, Taxus chinensis, Amentotaxus hatuyenensis, Tsuga sinensis, Pinus kwangtungensis, Keteleeria davidiana, Abies fansipanensis)(30%) and 12 species at the VU level (36%), altogether 25/33 species (76%).
Vietnam has more than 40 species of 6 genera of Dipterocarpaceae where Anisoptera genus has 1 species, Dipterocarpus has 12, Hopea has 11, Parashorea has 2, Shorea has 8 and Vatica has 8 species and 1 subspecies. In comparison to conifers, dipterocarps have lower endangeredment levels. There are two species at CR level (5%), namely Hopea cordata and Hopea reticulata; 3 species at EN level (7%), namely Dipterocarpus retusus, D. costatus and D. baudii; and 17 species at VU level (40%), altogether 22/42 species (52%).
Beside species of the two above-mentioned groups, other species were also involved in conservation research programs which included highly threatened species such as Melanorrhoea usitata, M. laccifera, Cinnamomum parthenoxylon, C. glaucescens, Fagraea fragrans, Dalbergia tonkinensis and some other species with lower threat levels but high potential for planting such as Endospermum chinense, Ormosia balansae, Markhamia stipulata, Dialium cochinchinensis, Sindora siamensis, Chukrasia tabularis, and Burretiodendron tonkinensis. Conservation plantation of these species could be established with two objectives to conserve the species but also to contribute to seed supply for planting in the future.
Latest news
- Project: Research on selection and breeding of Acacia hybrid and Acacia auriculiformis for timber plantation in main ecological regions
- National seed orchard of Pinus merkusii
- National seed orchard of Acacia auriculiformis
- National seed orchard of Acacia mangium
- National seed orchard of Eucalyptus camaldulensis
Oldest news
- Completmentary survey of species compositton for main Bambo species in Vietnam
- Bamboo resources of Vietnam
- Analysis of the genetic diversity of 20 Calocedrus macrolepis samples by RAPD DNA cloroplast markers
- Establishment of pilot plantation of genetically improved Pinus merkusii having high resin productivity
- Breeding a number of native Bamboo specties in Northwestern Vietnam
