Seed orchards are important seed resources for producing improved tree crops for future plantations, forest restoration, and forestry practices (i.e., gene conservation) and for transmitting current gene diversity to future generations. Seed orchards are a major sub-division in forest science. The establishment and management of a seed orchard involves many steps, from the selection of superior trees to the harvesting of a seed crop. Studying the trends and future directions of seed orchards using different analysis methods is critically important, especially to establish resistant forests via the production of climate-smart, biotic/abiotic-stress-resistant seedling materials. Published papers related to seed orchards should be analyzed to determine the current trends in this field and to contribute to its future directions. Bibliometric analysis has been used for different purposes in various scientific fields. However, it has not been performed for publications in seed orchards. This study was carried out to analyze the current trends of research on seed orchards and to determine the future directions of these orchards based on published papers. For these purposes, 1018 published papers were obtained from the Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, and citation index databases of “Web of Science” using the keyword “seed orchard”. The papers were published between 1980 and 2022 and were subjected to bibliometric analysis based on the most prolific contributors, references, countries, and keywords. CiteSpace software 6.1 R6 was applied to visualize information about seed orchard research. The average number of citations per publication was 13.05, and the 4 H-Index of the publication set was 48. The most prolific contributors with the strongest citation bursts, the highest centrality, and the greatest numbers of published papers were from Canada, Sweden, South Korea, Finland, and Czech Republic, while Canada (186 published articles), the USA (140), and Sweden (115), together with China, Brazil, and Germany, were active countries, especially based on citations from recent years. The “keywords” of the papers were the core of the research. “Mating pattern”, “Swedish forestry”, “fertility variation”, “Hymenoscyphus fraxineus”, “threatened Pacific sandalwood”, “outbreeding depression”, “climate change”, “management”, and “growth”, together with others such as “genetic improvement” and “effective size”, were active study areas and keywords, based on results of the analysis. They also guided the literature search and inventory and classification of early studies and served as predictors for future studies. The results of this study are discussed based on the trends and future directions of the research and development of seed orchards.

Regeneration of Pinus brutia (Turkish red pine) after clear-cutting is showing failures in some low-elevation Mediterranean stands, raising questions about long-used silvicultural prescriptions. Because site limitations arise from the combined effects of climate, terrain, and surface thermal conditions that vary over short distances, diagnosing where problems may occur is challenging at operational scales. In this study, we first evaluate the study area (Antalya, Türkiye, 0–400 m elevation band) using open, long-term climatic indicators, along with terrain and surface thermal remote sensing variables, to describe recent environmental conditions relevant to germination and early seedling survival. We then build a transparent environmental-analog screening product that summarizes the degraded reference site as an environmental signature and computes pixel-wise similarity across the landscape at 100 m resolution. The resulting map reports three actionable tiers (≥95th, 90–95th, 85–90th percentiles), delineating compact clusters of very-high analogs surrounded by broader high/elevated belts. Interpreted strictly as a screening layer (not a predictive model), it supports compartment-scale triage: ≥95th areas are first candidates for field checks and adjusted prescriptions, while lower tiers guide targeted site preparation and monitoring. The novelty and importance are practical: widely available Earth observation data are converted into a reproducible, auditable tool that reduces dependence on complex predictive models and large calibration samples, while still requiring careful local interpretation and ground-truthing to inform P. brutia regeneration planning.

In this study, 13 trials located in the Mediterranean and Aegean Regions at the age of 30 of the Turkish pine origin trials established in a total of 26 trial areas in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus were evaluated in terms of diameter at breast height. 50 Turkish red pine provenances from different regions of Turkey and TRNC were sampled in the trials. Provenances with the best diameter growth and statistically significant differences were determined in the Mediterranean Region Low Altitude (200-600 m), Mediterranean Region Upper Elevation (900-950 m), and Aegean Region (401-700 m) Afforestation Zones. In addition, the performance stability of the provenances in terms of diameter growth was determined within the framework of the Mediterranean and Aegean trials. Experimental design in each trial is randomized complete block design with three replications. In each replication, provenances had presented with 16 seedlings initially. In 15th year, the trials were systematically thinned and sapling number in each replication was halved. As a result, significant differences were found in 12 trials in terms of diameter at breast height growth between provenances. It has been determined that the experimental error variance rates and the inter-plot error variation coefficients of the trials have decreased compared to the evaluations made in previous years. It has been determined that the origins of the Mediterranean Low Elevation Zone do not lag behind the origins of the Middle Elevation Zone in terms of performance stability in the Mediterranean and Aegean Regions. It has been observed that the performance stability of the Mediterranean Upper Elevation Zone provenances and the Aegean Region provenances are very variable. It has been determined that the provenances of the Marmara Region and isolated provenances do not have the ability to adapt to the Mediterranean and Aegean Regions.

In this study, the genetic and phenotypic relations among tree height, diameter at breast height and survival at 18 years of age were investigated in Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens L. var. horizontalis (Mill.) Gordon) provenance-progeny trials established in two locations in southern Türkiye. It was found that the variation among families within one provenance was higher than among different provenances. At the joint analysis, the narrow-sense heritability (hi2) was 0.36 for height, and 0.24 for diameter. Family mean heritability (hf2) was 0.78 for height, while it was 0.53 for diameter. Diameter showed higher (13.98%) genetic diversity than height (12.71%). Genetic correlation between traits was high (0.84). According to the breeding values of the families estimated by the BLUP method, when the best 50 families by two traits are selected separately, 12.5% genetic gain in terms of height and 13.2% in terms of diameter can be achieved. In the selection of the best 30 families, the estimated genetic gain calculated was 15.2% for height and 16.3% for diameter.

Twenty provenances of Atlas Cedar, three provenances of Lebanon Cedar and two provenances of Cyprus Cedar had subjected to 20 year adaptation trials in Soutwestern Mediterrenean Elmalı and Keçiborlu locations where Supra-Mediterranean (cool,semi-arid) Bioclimatic conditions prevail. According to 20 year’s results, it was determined that Algerian Atlas cedar, Lebanon cedar and Cyprus cedar provenances had adaptation capability to mentioned conditions. Nevertheless, Morocco provenances of Atlas cedar had lower adaptation hence vulnerability to expected climate change due to global warming.

Bu çalışmada, ormancılık uygulamacı birimleri tarafından sıklıkla sorgulanan, endüstriyel plantasyonlarda yapılan entansif çalışmaların karşılığının, büyüme açısından alınıp alınamadığı irdelenmiştir. Çalışma, Batı Akdeniz Bölgesindeki altı kızılçam (Pinus brutia Ten.) orijin denemesinde yürütülmüştür. Denemelerinin 30. yıl sonuçlarına göre, her bir deneme alanında, göğüs yüksekliği çapı bakımından en iyi iki orijinden, parsel orta ağacı ve çap gelişimi bakımından ona en yakın ağaç olmak üzere ikişer ağaç örneklenmiş ve bu örnek ağaçlar dipten itibaren birer metre aralıklarla kesilerek alınan kesitlerin incelenmesiyle gövde analizine tabi tutulmuşlardır. Gövde analizi ile ağaçların 1.30 m kabuklu- kabuksuz çaplarının ve göğüs yüzeylerinin beşer yıllık değerleri belirlenmiştir. Aynı periyodlar için ISSA yöntemiyle ağaç boyları, Smalian Formülü ile tespit edilen kesit aralıkları hacimlerinin toplamıyla da gövde hacimleri tahmin edilmiştir. Her hasılat öğesine ilişin büyüme eğrileri 9 m²/ağaç büyüme alanı için geçerli kızılçam ağaçlandırmaları kılavuz bonitet eğrileri ile karşılaştırılarak irdelenmiştir. Sonuçta, bu çalışmayla üstün orijin seçilerek yapılan ağaçlandırmaların, mevcut kızılçam plantasyonlarının bonitet sınıflamasına göre büyüme performansları ortaya konulmuştur.