Early Assessment of Local Adaptation in Juvenile Prairie Grasses - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Early Assessment of Local Adaptation in Juvenile Prairie Grasses Healthy Prairies Project Shelby Flint, Kane Keller, Georgiana May, Ruth Shaw National Native Seed Conference Washington, D.C. 14 February 2017

Prairies & why they matter Used with permission

Prairies & why they matter (Some) ecosystem services: • Reduce erosion • Improve water quality • Store carbon • Wildlife, pollinator habitat • Renewable bioenergy • Aesthetic, recreation Used with permission

Restoring prairies – locally-adapted seed Used with permission Wild-harvested seeds

Restoring prairies – locally-adapted seed Restoration How far? Little bluestem, local environment Origin

Healthy Prairies Project – Scale of local adaptation 2014 harvest sites NW little purple bluestem Sideoats prairie clover grama W SE SW thimbleweed wild bergamot white prairie clover Used by permission

Healthy Prairies Project – Scale of local adaptation

Healthy Prairies Project – Scale of local adaptation

Healthy Prairies Project – Scale of local adaptation 2014 harvest sites 2015 x-pollination site 2016 evaluation sites NW little purple bluestem Sideoats prairie clover grama W SE SW thimbleweed wild bergamot white prairie clover Used by permission

Healthy Prairies Project – Scale of local adaptation

Hypothetical – evidence of local adaptation ORIGIN (region) 5 Region: n/s 4 # of leaves 3 2 SW W-Cent NW EVALUATION SITES

Preliminary results – sideoats grama ORIGIN (region) 5 Origin: n/s 4 # of leaves 3 Response: # of leaves. GLM, log link Resid. df Resid. dev dAIC weight Origin 3458 2349.9 573.8 0.0 Site 3459 1778.0 0.0 0.8 Orig.+ Site 3456 1775.3 3.3 0.2 2 SW W-Cent NW EVALUATION SITES

Preliminary results – sideoats grama ORIGIN (region) 5 Origin: n/s Origin: SE < others 12 10 Plant height (cm) 4 # of leaves 8 3 6 Response: Plant height GLM, identity link Resid. df Resid. dev dAIC weight 4 2 Origin 3458 107487 1536.0 0.0 Site 3459 69069 2.9 0.2 SW W-Cent Ori.+ Site 3456 68892 0.0 0.7 SW W-Cent NW NW EVALUATION SITES

Preliminary results – little bluestem ORIGIN (region) Origin: SW NW & W-cent. 10 SE 8 # of leaves 6 Response: # of leaves. GLM, log link Resid. df Resid. dev dAIC weight Origin 3271 9611.1 3541.4 0 4 Site 3272 6100.1 28.4 0 Orig.* Site 3263 6017.9 0.0 1 SW W-Cent NW EVALUATION SITES

Preliminary results – little bluestem ORIGIN (region) Origin: SW NW & W-cent. 10 SE 9 Plant height (cm) 8 # of leaves 7 6 5 4 Response: Plant height GLM, identity link Resid. df Resid. dev dAIC weight Origin 3271 55623 980.4 0.0 Site 3272 41435 14.0 0.0 SW Ori.+ Site 3269 41182 0.0 0.9 W-Cent SW NW W-Cent NW EVALUATION SITES

Summary & next steps • Sideoats grama – • no evidence of local adaptation • SE-origin shortest at 2 sites sideoats • Little bluestem – grama • SW, W-cent origin – most leaves, tallest • Long-term experiment – • Local adaptation as lifetime fitness • 6 spp. total • Stay tuned … little bluestem

Healthy Prairies Project partners and funders:

Healthy Prairies Project – harvest sites Seed Conservation

Healthy Prairies Project – Beneficial microbes Role that microbes play in Endophytes of native local adaptation of plants MN prairie

Healthy Prairies Project – Adaptive capacity Genetic variation for fitness in natural populations (little bluestem)

Healthy Prairies Project partners and funders:

The preceding presentation was delivered at the 2017 National Native Seed Conference Washington, D.C. February 13-16, 2017 This and additional presentations available at http://nativeseed.info