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Production and establishment techniques for the restoration of Nothofagus alessandrii, an endangered keystone species in a Mediterranean forestArtículo de revistaRuil (Nothofagus alessandrii) is an endangered keystone species from the Mediterranean climate zone of Chile. Ruil’s fragile state of conservation urges development of restoration programs, but specific protocols for nursery production and field establishment that ensure plant survival are largely unknown. Therefore, we examined the effect on nitrogen (N) fertilization and container size during nursery production in combination with the use of mesh shelters after outplanting on survival and growth during the first growing season in the field. First year outplanting survival of nursery-grown container seedlings was enhanced when seedlings were given nitrogen (N) during nursery production and deployed with mesh tree shelters in the field. The volume of the container had no effect on outplanting survival and growth. Increasing N from zero to 200 mg N L−1 provided sufficient N levels, resulting in increased seedling height, root-collar diameter, shoot biomass, and total seedling N and phosphorous concentrations. Additional N provided by the 400 and 600 mg N L−1 treatments underwent luxury consumption by the seedlings with no further benefits in field performance. Improved growth in the nursery, along with the use of mesh tree shelters after outplanting, especially during the typical summer drought, may be responsible for increased survival during the first growing season. Increasing the performance of nursery-grown ruil seedlings is essential to restoring this endangered, vulnerable, and foundation species within the highly biodiverse, yet seriously threatened endemic Maulino Costero Forest of the Mediterranean climate of central Chile. Phylogeographic origin authentication of Araucaria araucana (Mol.) K Koch seedlings through the application of spectroscopy techniques in different infrared ranges and chemometric methodsArtículo de revistaThe origin of seed and seedlings is an important factor for the success of restoration programs; an inadequate origin can have negative impacts on genetic and adaptive processes. A technique that allows authenticating the origin is infrared spectroscopy, a fast, accurate and low-cost tool. In Patagonia one species that required restoration programs, consequently, propagules traceability is Araucaria araucana. Phylogeographic studies showed significant differences between Chilean Andean and Coastal populations. The goal of this study was to discriminate the phylogeographic origin of A. araucana seedlings using spectroscopic and chemometric methods. Seedlings of both phylogeographic origins were cultivated in common garden and spectral information in four spectral ranges was recorded. Principal component analysis and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) were applied. All the spectral ranges analyzed were able to discriminate phylogeographic origin, whose predictive models achieved a classification accuracy of 88–91%. The best models were SIMCA VIS–NIR and SIMCA FTIR. Wavelengths responsible for discrimination were associated with photosynthetic pigments, proteins and plant fibers. Andean seedlings have a higher content of Chlb, xanthophylls and plant fibers and the most important bands for the Coastal provenance are related to Chla and protein contents. It is shown that differences reported at the genetic level between both origins are expressed at the chemical level. In conclusion, infrared spectra obtained from Araucaria araucana, treated with chemometric methods, allow capturing the phylogeographic signal that separates Coastal and Andean origins. In the future, the resulting models could be used in restoration programs for this species.