Steve McKeand
Professor and Director Tree Improvement Cooperative
Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
Biltmore Hall (Robertson Wing) 1019C
Area(s) of Expertise
Forestry, Forest Genetics
Education
B.S. Purdue University (Forest Production) (1976)
M.S. Purdue University (Forest Genetics) (1978)
Ph.D. North Carolina State University (Forest Genetics) (1983)
Research Interests
Support of the breeding program of the Tree Improvement Program, with primary responsibility in the breeding, testing, and selection phases of the program. Specific research interests include: genetic effects on nutritional and ecophysiological processes in forest trees, genetic and environmental control of wood properties, biotechnology/breeding interface, propagation effects on forest trees, seed orchard management, and genotype by environment interactions.
Courses
FOR 725 – Forest Genetics (formerly FOR 611)
FOR 727 – Tree Improvement Research Techniques
FOR 411 – Forest Tree Genetics and Biology
Publications
- Variation among loblolly pine seed sources across diverse environments in the southeastern United States (2017)
- Genetic variation in response to herbicide and fertilization treatments for growth and form traits in loblolly pine (2016)
- Modeling climate change effects on the height growth of loblolly pine (2015)
- Height-diameter relationships for different genetic planting stock of loblolly pine at age 6 (2015)
- Effects of inbreeding on growth and quality traits in loblolly pine (2015)
- The success of tree breeding in the southern US (2015)
- Variation in stem taper and growth traits in a clonal trial of loblolly pine (2015)
- Seedling evaluation of Atlantic coastal and Piedmont sources of Pinus taeda L. and their hybrids for cold hardiness (2015)
- Modeling genetic effects on growth of diverse provenances and families of loblolly pine across optimum and deficient nutrient regimes (2014)
- Genetics of stem forking and ramicorn branches in a cloned loblolly pine family (2014)