Designer trees

Researchers in Tasmania are developing software that lets forestry managers
grow timber tailor-made for particular applications such as furniture making or
pulp. For four years, Geoff Downes and his colleagues at CSIRO, Australia’s
research body, have been taking hourly readings of the growth of two species of
eucalyptus. The team has linked the growth data to the density of the wood and
the width and structure of fibres in the trunk. These properties relate directly
to the wood’s quality, grain and strength. “We should now be able to manipulate
the growing conditions of trees to produce wood suitable for a…