Silvicultural and Selection Features of Scots Pine Elite Stands in the Republic of Karelia

Whatever level of recurrent plus breeding cycle is achieved, there is a need of additional supplement of breeding population with new elite tree specimens. Therefore, investigations concerning the confluence of ecological, genetic, and intracelomic factors facilitating their appearance is ever more relevant. Five elite and three normal stands, which included 71 elite trees growing within the northern taiga subzone, were studied in 2021–2023. Most of the stands were relatively even-aged because of their formation after total catastrophic events, such as clear cuts and windfalls. The “elite” phenomena for new pine stand became possible precisely because of some kind of catastrophic event accompanied by fire (slash fire or natural fire), which cleared space, and was followed soon by abundant crop of pine seeds from surrounding stands. Specimens belonging to the leading group of trees, which germinated in the first phase (0–15 years) of pine self-regeneration, had the maximum probability to evolve into elite ones. The genetic proximity of trees of all selection categories can be explained by the fact that all of them belong to the same generation period (about 30 years). At the same time, the actual genetic features of elite trees most commonly remain unrevealed and special trials with vegetative and seed progenies are needed to bring them to light.