Harry X Wu Professor of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding at the Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, SLU Umeå, 2010 PhD, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 1993 Australia’s National Science Agency, CSIRO, 1996. Group leader of Forest Genetics in 2005 and Senior Principal Research Scientist, 2010 Forest Genetic Consultant in Canada harry.wu@slu.se, www.slu.se/forestgenphys
Scots pin e produc tivity cou improved ld be bett plants. P er w hoto: No ra Adelskö ith ld
Globetrotter ends up in boreal forests Like many world class researchers, professor Harry X Wu has lived and worked in several countries. He now shares his research time between Australia and SLU Umeå in the far north of Sweden. “The biggest difference between the two countries is that Sweden has a well developed science culture. Also, Swedish people in general are aware of the importance of research to the country’s economy, and therefore are very supportive of our work.” Harry X Wu first learned of SLU back in the 1980´s when he pursued his Master’s degree in forestry at Beijing Forestry University in China. “At that time, we had several visitors from SLU giving seminars and our university also sent students and staff to SLU for training.”
Photo: Mattias Pettersson
Good reputation in forest genetics
He finished his PhD in forest genetics at the University of Alberta in Canada, and a couple of years later Australia became his home. However, when SLU offered him the possibility to conduct his research in Sweden, Harry Wu realised this was a great opportunity to expand his research area to different tree species. “Also, SLU has a very good reputation in forest genetics and tree breeding research, and a very supportive external environment within the field, such as the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden, and the forest industry. Another advantage is the well developed
forest biotech research going on at Umeå Plant Science Center, which can be incorporated into tree breeding programmes.” Improves tree breeding efficiency
The economic importance of Sweden’s forests is well-known but the productivity can become even better with improved plants from a good breeding programme. Through the years in Australia, Harry Wu has conducted many large scale research projects that have increased the productivity and quality of plantations of radiata pine (Pinus radiata) through genetic improvement. While continuing some of this work in Australia, his main focus in Sweden is how to increase breeding efficiency for Scots pine (Pinus silvestris) and Norway spruce (Picea abies), two species with much longer rotation periods than the Australian pine. COPY: Olof bergvall
In Swedish Harry Wu kartlägger den genetiska bakgrunden till viktiga egenskaper hos skogens träd, t.ex. tillväxt, trädform och härdighet. Variationer i dessa egenskaper kopplas till variationer i trädens arvsmassa. www.slu.se/kunskapsbank/skogsbruk-vilt
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