1. Tropical Working Parties
The joint activities of IUFRO Working Parties S2.02.8 Tropical Species and Provenances and S2.03.1 Breeding Tropical and Subtropical Species have been maintained through their joint meeting in Ibadan, Nigeria (April 1975) and the introduction of an IUFRO Tropical Newsletter (Editor Dr. J. Burley, CFI, Oxford). The next meeting of these two W.Ps will start in Brisbane, Queensland on 4 April 1977.
Action Groups have been set up on the following species or topics:
| Title | Convenor |
| Gmelina arborea | R. Woessner |
| Tectona grandis | H. Keiding |
| Tropical hardwoods genetics | K.S. Bawa/S.P.K. Britwum |
| Tropical eucalypts | J. Davidson |
| Araucarias | D.G. Nikles/M. Ferreira |
| Selection and breeding populations | D.G. Nikles |
| Provenance trials | J. Burley |
| International provenance trials economics | P. Guldager |
| Distribution maps | R.H. Kemp |
| Seed data | P.J. Wood |
| Triplochiton scleroxylon | S.P.K. Britwum |
Further news of the Tropical Eucalypts Group is given below. The Action Group on Genetics of Tropical Hardwoods intends to start a newsletter. Persons interested should contact Dr. K.S. Bawa, Biology II Department, Harbor Campus, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 U.S.A.
2. Tropical Eucalypts
A great deal of interest and activity has been generated as a result of the formation of an Action Group on Tropical Eucalypts under IUFRO Working Parties S2.02.8 and S2.03.1. An Announcement about this Action Group is reproduced below. Information contained in the several newsletters already issued includes such items as eucalypt planting programmes in a number of countries, eucalypts seed lots available from the Seeds Section of the Division of Forest Research in Canberra and a bibliography on Tree Improvement of Eucalyptus in Brazil.
Recent publications on tropical eucalypts include the Forest Tree Series Leaflet No. 175 on Kamarere (Eucalyptus deglupta) by John Turnbull (published in Canberra) and the series of articles in “Bois et Forêts des Tropiques” (Nos. 163–165) on “Les Eucalyptus des Iles de la Sonde” by Bernard Martin and Christian Cossalter, which deal with E. alba and E. urophylla.
Announcement
An Action Group on Tropical Eucalypts has been formed and is now operational.
This Action Group is an informal body of people who wish to co-operate actively by the exchange of ideas, information and material (seed, pollen, scions and so on).
The formation of the Action Group came about as a result of discussions at the combined meeting of the two IUFRO Working Parties in Nairobi, Kenya, 1973.
Ninety-two members from over forty-six different countries presently comprise the Action Group. They are interested in flowering, pollination, seed production, seed biology, provenance research, population improvement, bibliographies, monographs, distribution maps, taxonomy, biochemistry, wood properties and economic aspects of fast-growing tropical eucalypts.
Twenty of the members have completed a detailed questionnaire on breeding tropical eucalypts. These are now being collated.
In June 1975 the first issue of a Newsletter was prepared. A second appeared in September and a third in November 1975. The first issue contains an address list of members of the Action Group. This list will be updated from time to time.
A meeting of the Action Group is planned for the occasion of the Third FAO/IUFRO World Consultation on Forest Tree Breeding, Canberra, Australia in March 1977.
Should you wish to participate in this Action Group or know of a colleague who might be interested, please contact the Convenor:
Prof. John Davidson
P.O. Box 793
Lae
Papua New Guinea.
3. Poplars
Circular letter No. 11 of IUFRO Working Party S2.02.10 on Poplar Provenances announced that Professor S.P. Ivannikov of U.S.S.R., a member of the Working Party, has offered to organize provenance seed collections of Populus laurifolia in its natural range in west and east Siberia during 1976 and 1977.
Professor O. Sziklai has offered to make further collections of seed of Populus trichocarpa in British Columbia, Canada, probably during summer 1976. A paper presented to the Fifteenth Session of the International Poplar Commission in Rome (December 1975) summarised “First Results of the International Populus trichocarpa Provenance Trial (1973, 1974, 1975)”. Copies may be still available from the author, Dr. R. Koster, Dorschkamp Research Institute for Forestry and Landscape Planning, Bosrandweg 20, P.O. Box 23, Wageningen, Netherlands.
4. Seed Problems
IUFRO Working Party S2.01.06 on Seed Problems is conducting a survey of equipment, supplies and methods in forest tree seed. The coordinator is Dr. F. Bonner, Forest Tree Seed Laboratory, P.O. Box 906, Starkville, Mass. 39759, U.S.A.
Meetings planned by this W.P. include the symposium on “Physiology of seed germination” (18–29 October 1976 in Tokyo, Japan) and an X-ray workshop (autumn 1978 in Macon, U.S.A.).
