Satellite Symposium 3: Pastoral Systems
Description
The lack of commercial quantities of seed is preventing the use of native grasses in large-scale revegetation programmes. Sourcing wild-land non-local provenance seed from distant locations brings with it risks associated with maladaptation and potential genetic pollution. Understanding of intra-specific ecotypic variation and its adaptive consequences is required to both increase seed supply and retain adaptive characteristics in native plant revegetation programmes. A recently commenced genecological study on the widespread Australian native grass, Austrodanthonia caespitose, aims to examine quantitative traits in a common garden study and genetic structure (using DNA analysis) of 35 populations collected from a large geographic range. Examination of the adaptive significance of these traits using reciprocal transplant experiments will aid in the development of provenance guidelines for Australian native grasses. In this paper we report the initial findings for one of many characteristics being measured in a common garden study, namely plant transpiration efficiency.
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Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
A Genecological Study of the Widespread Australian Native Grass Austrodanthonia Caespitosa (Gaudich.) H.P. Linder.
The lack of commercial quantities of seed is preventing the use of native grasses in large-scale revegetation programmes. Sourcing wild-land non-local provenance seed from distant locations brings with it risks associated with maladaptation and potential genetic pollution. Understanding of intra-specific ecotypic variation and its adaptive consequences is required to both increase seed supply and retain adaptive characteristics in native plant revegetation programmes. A recently commenced genecological study on the widespread Australian native grass, Austrodanthonia caespitose, aims to examine quantitative traits in a common garden study and genetic structure (using DNA analysis) of 35 populations collected from a large geographic range. Examination of the adaptive significance of these traits using reciprocal transplant experiments will aid in the development of provenance guidelines for Australian native grasses. In this paper we report the initial findings for one of many characteristics being measured in a common garden study, namely plant transpiration efficiency.
