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Research ArticleResearch Article

Unintentional Selection and Genetic Changes in Native Perennial Grass Populations During Commercial Seed Production

Andrew R. Dyer, Eric E. Knapp and Kevin J. Rice
Ecological Restoration, March 2016, 34 (1) 39-48; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/er.34.1.39
Andrew R. Dyer
Corresponding author, Department of Biology and Geology, University of South Carolina Aiken, Aiken, SC 29801, .
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  • For correspondence: [email protected]
Eric E. Knapp
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Current address: USFS Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Redding, California 96002.
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Kevin J. Rice
Department of Plant Sciences and Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis,CA 95616
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Abstract

For habitat restoration, seed of native plant species is frequently transferred over wide geographic areas and planted in environments that differ from the original collection environment. When such collections are grown for seed production in agricultural fields, the genotypes favored under agronomic conditions may differ from those favored at the eventual planting location. The resulting agronomically-produced seed may be poorly matched to intended restoration sites. Populations of two native perennial grasses commonly used in restoration projects in California were grown in typical agronomic conditions for seed production. We compared traits of the plants produced from seed harvested in the first and second years of agronomic production to plants produced from the original seed collections. We found strong evidence for genetic shifts in both species as a result of selection associated with biotic and abiotic factors. A four-population mixture of Elymus glaucus produced seed comprised mainly of two populations, primarily due to differential sensitivity to disease. With two populations of Nassella pulchra, early and late harvests selected for early and late maturing genotypes, respectively, and a reduction in the variance in phenology within the seed from the early harvest. We found that agronomic techniques for seed production have the potential to cause unintentional genotypic selection and result in shifts away from the genetic composition of the original seed collection. We offer recommendations for seed increase protocols to reduce these outcomes.

  • Elymus glaucus
  • genetic shift
  • habitat matching
  • Nassella (Stipa) pulchra
  • phenology

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Ecological Restoration: 34 (1)
Ecological Restoration
Vol. 34, Issue 1
1 Mar 2016
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Unintentional Selection and Genetic Changes in Native Perennial Grass Populations During Commercial Seed Production
Andrew R. Dyer, Eric E. Knapp, Kevin J. Rice
Ecological Restoration Mar 2016, 34 (1) 39-48; DOI: 10.3368/er.34.1.39

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Unintentional Selection and Genetic Changes in Native Perennial Grass Populations During Commercial Seed Production
Andrew R. Dyer, Eric E. Knapp, Kevin J. Rice
Ecological Restoration Mar 2016, 34 (1) 39-48; DOI: 10.3368/er.34.1.39
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Keywords

  • Elymus glaucus
  • genetic shift
  • habitat matching
  • Nassella (Stipa) pulchra
  • phenology
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