Person
Pederick, Leon A. (1930 - )
BSc(For) PhD
- Born
- 24 May 1930
Rabaul, Territory of New Guinea - Occupation
- Biogeographer and Forest Scientist
Summary
Initially mapping remote forest areas with the Forests Commission of Victoria, Leon Pederick moved to its Research Branch in 1958 and began a major tree breeding program with Pinus radiata until his retirement in 1993. This program yielded significant gains in growth rate and timber qualitiy.
He also established large field trials with eucalypts to study natural variation. In one major study, seeds collected from throughout the natural distribution of a species then known as Eucalyptus nitens was planted at two locations in 1972. Differences in foliage characters and growth rate were observed between collections from central and eastern Victorian seed sources. Subsequently, the eastern populations were described by others as a separate species, E. denticulata, and the central populations retained the name E. nitens. Other genetic studies involved E. obliqua and E. globulus.
Details
Chronology
- 1948 - 1950
- Education - Associate Diploma of Forestry, Victorian School of Forestry, Creswick
- 1954 - 1955
- Education - Bachelor of Science (Forestry), University of Melbourne
- 1963 - 1966
- Education - PhD, University of Melbourne
- 1991
- Award - N. W. Jolly Medal, Institute of Foresters Australia
Related entries
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details
Books
- Pederick, L. A. (Leon), Genetic variation in the growth rate of seven-year-old Eucalyptus regnans (Melbourne: Research Branch, Forests Commission, Victoria, 1975), 20 pp. Details
- Pederick, L.A. (Leon), Genetic variation in Eucalyptus obliqua with special reference to Otway-messmate (Victoria: Research Branch, Forests Commission, Victoria, 1974), 17 pp. Details
- Pederick, L.A. (Leon), The genetic resources of the Victorian eucalypts (Melbourne: Forests Commission, Victoria, 1976), 30 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Potts, B.M.; and Pederick, L.A., 'Morphology, phylogeny, origin, distribution and genetic diversity of eucalypts.' in Diseases and pathogens of eucalypts (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 2000), pp. 11-27. Details
Journal Articles
- Pederick, L. A, 'Natural variation in shining gum (Eucalyptus nitens)', Australian Forest Research, 9 (1) (1979), 41-63. Details
- Pederick, L.A.; and Lennox, F.G., 'Variation in Polyphenolic Constituents of Eucalyptus nitens Maiden', Australian Journal of Botany, 27 (3) (1979), 217-226. Details
Resources
- 'Pederick, Leon A., by Leon Pederick and Peter Fagg', The Study of Australian Eucalypts: Forestry, with Fagg, P.C. et al., eScholarship Research Centre, 16 December 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/forestry.html. Details
- 'Pederick, L A', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-467199. Details
Theses
- Pederick, Leon Alec, 'Cytogenetic studies in Pinus Radiata', PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, Office of Research, 1967, 266 pp. Details
Leon Pederick & Peter Fagg
Created: 21 September 2012, Last modified: 15 June 2022
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