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Abstract Detail



Conservation Biology

Schumacher, Emily [1], Franklin, Scott [2], McGlaughlin, Mitchell [3].

Local Seeds, Less Problems?: An Analysis of the Variability within Seed Sourcing Zones Collected by the Bureau of Land Management.

Due to the increasing frequency of anthropogenic disturbances, greater efforts need to be put into determining seed material for large scale restoration projects. The Bureau of Land Management created the Seeds of Success (SOS) project to bolster native plant material following fires that destroyed more land than could be covered with seedbank material. The logic behind their seed sourcing techniques is based in the rational of seed zones, which are ecologically and geographically specified areas to which the plants are locally adapted and therefore will be the most successful at establishment. However, genetic characteristics of BLM seed stocks have never been tested to determine if local adaptation is prevalent in species commonly used in restoration. Using genetic methods, this project aims to determine how genetically distinct individuals are within and between accessions of Bureau of Land Management Seeds of Success seed collections and use ecological modeling to determine the ecogeographic variables that shape local environments. A combination of microsatellite analysis to determine genetic divergence and ecological data like average annual temperature and rainfall was used to identify the degree of local adaptation in Artemisia tridentata, Ericameria nauseosa, and Grindelia squarrosa. Our results indicate that the degree of local adaptation is variable between species, with Ericameria nauseosa exhibiting high levels of genetic differentiation, Artemisia tridentata having little differentiation between two seed accessions but being very differentiated from a third, and Grindelia squarrosa exhibiting little variation between all distances from which it was sourced. This indicates ecological variables and breeding systems shape local adaptation in common species differently.


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1 - University of Northern Colorado, Biological Sciences, 501 20th St., Greeley, CO, 80639, USA
2 - University Of Northern Colorado, School Of Biological Sciences, 501 20th St., Greeley, CO, 80639, United States
3 - University Of Northern Colorado, 501 20th St, Box 92, Greeley, CO, 80639, United States

Keywords:
Seeds of Success
Seed zones
Microsatellites
Sagebrush restoration.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: CB1, Conservation Ecology 1
Location: Tucson B/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 8:15 AM
Number: CB1002
Abstract ID:302
Candidate for Awards:None


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