USDA-ARS Plant Genetic Resources, Western Regional
Plant Introduction Station (WRPIS) and the Conservation
Planning Institute
Agricultural
Research Service

•
Nancy Shaw, Brad St Clair , Matt
Horning, Vicky Erickson
•
Tom Jones, Erin Espeland
•
Peggy Olwell , Scott Lambert, Mary
Byrne (Seeds of Success)
•
Beth Ledger
• Berta Youtie, Eastern Oregon Stewardship

“Crop” based: selections are made from plants representing genetically diverse populations. Ecotypes are selected or more intense breeding is completed through crossing and further selection. Many populations are discarded to focus on fewer elite populations.
-May lead to broadly adapted types and easier production
-Good for special applications such as extremely degraded sites
-Contributes to genetic erosion and swamping
“Ecological" based: wild populations are collected within a seed zone and planted back to the areas within the seed zones.
Uses “local is best” concept
-Ensures better conservation of exiting genetic resources
-More scope for natural selection to act on populations for future adaption within the seed zones
-New for Great Basin; implementation system lacking

Mountain brome from the Oregon Cascades (W), the Blue mountains (B), and the cultivar Bromar (Br) distinguished by plant traits

Conservation of native plant species needed: ex situ and in situ
Native genetic resources on the edge:
-Invasive weeds
-Frequent fires
-Overgrazing
-Revegetation
-Climate change
Gaylen Hansen

Ex situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources

Seeds of Success (SOS) was established in 2001 by the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) in partnership with the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew Millennium Seed Bank
(MSB)
It is now an ongoing program with many partners that collect, conserve, and develop native plant materials for rehabilitating and restoring lands in the United States.
SOS and the NPGS are partnering to collect and conserve key native plant materials.
Approximately 3,500 new native accessions have been acquired for the NPGS so far.

Genecology for Seed Zones:
 Germplasm collection
 Common garden evaluation
 Analysis of genetic diversity
 Link plant traits with source environment
 Map seed adaptation zones
Pseudoroegneria spicata, Bluebunch wheatgrass

-Mt. Brome (complete)
-Tapertip onion (complete)
Indian ricegrass (nearly complete)
-Bluebunch wheatgrass (Brad’s talk)
-Sandberg bluegrass (data collected)
Thurbers’ needlegrass
(seeds collected )
-Basin wildrye (gardens planted)
-Prairie junegrass (data collected)
-Bottlebrush squirreltail (seeds collected)
-Sulfur-flowered buckwheat (started)
* Cooperative among BLM, Forest
Service, and ARS

Tapertip onion
Indian ricegrass

Walt Kaiser collecting Allium acuminatum near the
Snake River

Tapertip onion in the Great Basin- 55 locations
Twenty Level 4 Ecoregions
Semiarid Hills and Low Mountains
Southern Forested Mtns/Dry Partly Wooded
Mtns
Mountain Home Uplands
Southern Forested Mountains
Pluvial Lake Basins
High Desert Wetlands
Continental Zone Foothills
Unwooded Alkaline Foothills
Semiarid Foothills
High Glacial Drift-Filled Valleys
Central Nevada Mid-Slope Woodland and
Brushland
Central Nevada High Valleys
Carbonate Woodland Zone
Carbonate Sagebrush Valleys
Mid-Elevation Ruby Mountains
Semiarid Uplands
High Lava Plains
Upper Humboldt Plains
Owyhee Uplands and Canyons
Dissected High Lava Plateau
Collectionn sites
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
3
4
8
13
5
6

Umbel,
Flower
Leaf

Tapertip onion correlations
Phenology
Days to bolting
Days to flowering
Days bolt to flower PU
Days bolt to flower CF
Days to seed maturity
Production
Survival
Leaf number
Flowers per umbel
Seeds per plant
Principal components
PC 1 morphology (R 2 =0.46)
PC 1 phenology(R 2 =0.59)
PC 1 production(R 2 =0.65)
Ann.
temp
-0.48**
-0.23
0.33*
0.48**
-0.10
-0.45**
-0.36**
-0.22
-0.31*
0.01
-0.44**
-0.41**
Ann precip.
0.31*
0.03
-0.37**
-0.41**
-0.12
0.33*
0.56**
0.09
0.42**
0.05
0.28*
0.43**

White areas are outside the data range

Seed zones for tapertip onion in the
Great Basin region.
The map is an overlay of production and phenological traits modeled with source location environmental variables. Morphology was not linked with climate so it was not mapped.
White areas are outside the data range

Mostly collected by Tom Jones

Indian ricegrass gardens, Central Ferry WA

Phenology
Heading date
Blooming date
Maturity date
Morphology
Leaf width
Leaf length
Culm length
Inflorescence length
Leaf texture
Leaf abundance
Leaf roll
Plant habit Flat, unrolled leaf rated at 1
Cylindrical, rolled leaf rated at 9

Growth and production
Inflorescences per plant
Seeds per inflorescence
Crown diameter
Dry weight
Regrowth weight
Dry weight less regrowth
Hand sickles were used to remove above ground foliage for dry weight determination
Cut to 1-2 cm height. regrowth was harvested one month later

Correlations of phenology traits with average annual temperature and precipitation for Indian ricegrass grown in common gardens.
Phenology traits Ave.Temp
Ave. Precip.
Heading07 -0.17ns
0.06ns
Heading08
Blooming08
Maturity08
0.24*
0.12ns
0.33**
-0.27**
-0.17ns
-0.24*
Bloom to Mat07
PhenCan1 (R 2 =0.49)
0.21*
0.48**
-0.22*
-0.33**
*,**, and ns, correlation significant at P<0.05, 0.01, and not significant, respectively

Correlations of production traits with annual average temperature and precipitation for Indian ricegrass grown in common gardens (n=104).
Production traits
Leaf abundance07
Leaf abundance08
Seeds per head07
Ave.Temp
Ave. Precip.
-0.30**
0.21*
0.03ns
0.09ns
-0.13ns
0.15ns
Seeds per head08
Head number07
Head number08
Dry weight07
-0.17ns
0.28**
-0.07ns
0.32**
0.29**
-0.18ns
0.17ns
-0.11ns
Dry weight08
ProCan1(R 2 =0.34)
0.12ns
-0.48**
0.05ns
0.33**
ProCan2(R 2 =0.20) 0.21* -0.21*
*,**, and ns, correlation significant at P<0.05, P<0.01, and not significant, respectively

Correlations of morphology traits with annual average temperature and precipitation for Indian ricegrass grown in common gardens (n=104).
Morphology traits
Plant habit07
Ave.Temp
0.23*
Ave. Precip.
-0.05ns
Plant habit08
Leaf texture07
Leaf texture08
Culm length07
Culm length08
Head lenght07
Head lenght08
Leaf roll07
Leaf roll08
Leaf length07
Leaf length08
Leaf width07
Leaf width08
MorphCan1 (R 2 =0.25)
MorphCan2(R 2 =0.19)
MorphCan3(R 2 =0.11)
0.36**
-0.32**
-0.07ns
-0.14ns
-0.05ns
0.06ns
-0.11ns
-0.28**
0.06ns
0.24*
0.20*
0.30**
0.08ns
0.31**
0.25**
0.19*
-0.36**
0.07ns
-0.02ns
0.30**
0.19*
0.02ns
0.22*
0.03ns
-0.13ns
-0.02ns
0.06ns
-0.06ns
-0.04ns
-0.24*
-0.26**
-0.38**

Summary of temperature and precipitation correlations with Indian Ricegrass source locations: the hot dry case
Higher temperature locations ( Hot )
Lower precipitation locations ( Dry )
Phenology
Later heading
Later maturity
Later heading
Later maturity
Shorter bloom to maturity Shorter bloom to maturity
Production
More heads
More dry weight
Fewer seeds per head
Morphology
More upright plants More upright plants
Longer, wider leaves Fewer, shorter culms

Phenology 1 Morphology 1
Production 1
Mapping composite canonical traits with source location temperature and precipitation for Indian ricegrass

Indian ricegrass: All traits 1
•Blue trends warmer
•Brown trends cooler

Indian ricegrass: All traits 2
•Blue trends warmer
•Brown trends cooler

Summary
•Substantial genetic diversity for key restoration species has naturally developed in association with different environments, suggesting adaptation to climate variables.
•This diversity is threatened by disturbances including overgrazing, weeds, fire, climate change, and restoration when single sources are used over wide areas.
•Links between genetic traits and temperature and precipitation at collection locations can be used to map seed zones to guide to restoration.

Palouse moon by Gaylen Campbell

Collecting Basin wildrye at Murphy Hot Springs, Idaho

Genecology for Indian ricegrass and Tapertip onion resulted in regressi on models sufficiently strong for landscape mappi ng and seed zone develop ment
There was appa rent adaptation in these spec ies associated with temperature and precipitation gradients across the sampling regions .
Continued work on Indian rice grass f or the Central Great
Basin and on other species is ongoing to develop seed zones useful to provide adapted plant materials for revegetation.
Palouse moon by Gaylen Campbell