In Europe, the non-native Northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) is widely recommended for future cultivation. However, outside its natural range, Northern red oak has to date been insufficiently studied both in terms of silviculture and genetics. To clarify this, we studied the architecture of 92 (pre-) dominant Northern red oak trees in five German federal states using the non-destructive terrestrial laser scanning method (TLS). In addition, individual-based heterozygosity was calculated based on microsatellite data obtained by analyzing twelve potentially adaptive genic (EST derived markers) and eight putatively selectively neutral nuclear microsatellite markers. With these data the individual heterozygosity of the sample trees was calculated. Mean or median branch angles as well as branch angle ranges of first order branches decreased with individual heterozygosity calculated group-wise for all markers (H_oAll) and for EST-derived markers (H_oEST). Most other tree characteristics, including the number of bark anomalies and mean stem non-circularity and crown characteristics such as crown volume, crown surface area, or mean branch length of first order branches responded exclusively to competition. We conclude that competition, not genetics, is the main driver of Northern red oak stem and crown characteristics. Thus, stem quality and crown dimension can primarily be controlled by silvicultural interventions. The significant relationship between Northern red oak branch angle traits and individual tree heterozygosity was unexpected, and at this time we do not have any validated explanation for this. This issue needs to be further investigated.

在欧洲，非本地北部赤栎（Quercus rubraL.）被广泛推荐用于将来的栽培。然而，迄今为止，北部红橡树在造林和遗传学方面都没有得到足够的研究。为了澄清这一点，我们使用无损地面激光扫描方法（TLS）研究了德国五个联邦州的92（主要）北部北方红橡树的体系结构。此外，基于微卫星数据，通过分析十二种潜在的适应性基因（EST衍生标记）和八种假定的选择性中性核微卫星标记，计算出基于个体的杂合度。利用这些数据，可以计算出样本树的个体杂合度。_o全部）和EST衍生标记（H _o EST）。多数其他树木特征，包括树皮异常数量和平均茎非圆形度以及树冠特征（例如树冠体积，树冠表面积或一阶分支的平均分支长度）仅对竞争产生响应。我们得出结论，竞争而非遗传是北红橡树茎和冠特征的主要驱动力。因此，茎质量和冠冠尺寸可以主要通过造林干预来控制。北部赤栎分支角度性状与个体树木杂合度之间的显着关系是出乎意料的，并且目前我们对此没有任何有效的解释。这个问题需要进一步调查。