CBC’s Quirks and Quarks featured a UBC student’s search for genetic mutations in old-growth giant Sitka spruce in the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. Vincent Hanlon, a forestry master’s student, took samples by climbing to the very top of the trees, some of which were as much as 84 metres tall. He hopes to discover genetic differences between needles taken from the top and bark samples taken from the bottom.
