Sedgwick Reserve

29 Sep, 03 AM - 29 Sep, 08 AM

I am conducting a population genetic study of California Grindelia in order to study the complex patterns of morphological diversification associated with recent radiation. In California, species of Grindelia occur in habitats ranging from salt marshes and sand dunes to serpentine grasslands and roadsides in the Central Valley. The plants in these different habitats are morphologically distinct ecotypes within the intergrading complex of California Grindelia species. There are two major ways by which the ecotypes could have evolved. It is possible that an ancestral Grindelia with a wide habitat tolerance colonized all of California and that subsequently each population adapted separately to its local habitat. Under this scenario, plants growing in a similar habitat in different parts of the state are morphologically similar because of convergent evolution. Alternatively, each ecotype could have evolved a single time and subsequently spread throughout its range. Under this scenario, plants growing in a similar habitat in different parts of the state are morphologically similar because of shared ancestry (they are each other?s closest relatives). The evolutionary history of California Grindelia probably incorporates both of these scenarios. I am going to use DNA sequence data from the rapidly changing psbA-trnH and psaI-accD regions of the chloroplast to examine the relationships of the California Grindelia. It is much easier to obtain good sequences of chloroplast DNA than it is of nuclear DNA, which often requires expensive and time consuming cloning steps prior to sequencing. In addition, different chloroplast genes share the same history because the chloroplast is inherited as a unit (unlike nuclear genes, which are on separate chromosomes), so many different chloroplast genes may be combined in the same analysis to increase resolution.

Visit #19247 @Sedgwick Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 20558 | Research

Phylogeographic Study of California Grindelia (Asteraceae)

graduate_student - University of California, Berkeley

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Abigail Moore Sep 29, 2009 (1 days)

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