Alien Registration- Dechaine, Demerise (Old Town, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/5959/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Dechaine, Louis (Old Town, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/5960/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Dechaine, Melvina (Madawaska, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/35386/thumbnail.jp

Why Georeferencing Matters: Introducing a Practical Protocol to Prepare Species Occurrence Records for Spatial Analysis

Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are widely used to understand environmental controls on species’ ranges and to forecast species range shifts in response to climatic changes. The quality of input data is crucial determinant of the model’s accuracy. While museum records can be useful sources of presence data for many species, they do not always include accurate geographic coordinates. Therefore, actual locations must be verified through the process of georeferencing. We present a practical, standardized manual georeferencing method (the Spatial Analysis Georeferencing Accuracy (SAGA) protocol) to classify the spatial resolution of museum records specifically for building improved SDMs. We used the high-elevation plant Saxifraga austromontana Wiegand (Saxifragaceae) as a case study to test the effect of using this protocol when developing an SDM. In MAXENT, we generated and compared SDMs using a comprehensive occurrence dataset that had undergone three different levels of georeferencing: (1) trained using all publicly available herbarium records of the species, minus outliers (2) trained using herbarium records claimed to be previously georeferenced, and (3) trained using herbarium records that we have manually georeferenced to a ≤ 1-km resolution using the SAGA protocol. Model predictions of suitable habitat for S. austromontana differed greatly depending on georeferencing level. The SDMs fitted with presence locations georeferenced using SAGA outperformed all others. Differences among models were exacerbated for future distribution predictions. Under rapid climate change, accurately forecasting the response of species becomes increasingly important. Failure to georeference location data and cull inaccurate samples leads to erroneous model output, limiting the utility of spatial analyses. We present a simple, standardized georeferencing method to be adopted by curators, ecologists, and modelers to improve the geographic accuracy of museum records and SDM predictions

QTL architecture of reproductive fitness characters in Brassica rapa

Background Reproductive output is critical to both agronomists seeking to increase seed yield and to evolutionary biologists interested in understanding natural selection. We examine the genetic architecture of diverse reproductive fitness traits in recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from a crop (seed oil) × wild-like (rapid cycling) genotype of Brassica rapa in field and greenhouse environments. Results Several fitness traits showed strong correlations and QTL-colocalization across environments (days to bolting, fruit length and seed color). Total fruit number was uncorrelated across environments and most QTL affecting this trait were correspondingly environment-specific. Most fitness components were positively correlated, consistent with life-history theory that genotypic variation in resource acquisition masks tradeoffs. Finally, we detected evidence of transgenerational pleiotropy, that is, maternal days to bolting was negatively correlated with days to offspring germination. A QTL for this transgenerational correlation was mapped to a genomic region harboring one copy of FLOWERING LOCUS C, a genetic locus known to affect both days to flowering as well as germination phenotypes. Conclusions This study characterizes the genetic structure of important fitness/yield traits within and between generations in B. rapa. Several identified QTL are suitable candidates for fine-mapping for the improvement of yield in crop Brassicas. Specifically, brFLC1, warrants further investigation as a potential regulator of phenology between generations

Integrating Environmental, Molecular, and Morphological Data to Unravel an Ice-age Radiation of Arctic-alpine Campanula in Western North America

Many arctic-alpine plant genera have undergone speciation during the Quaternary. The bases for these radiations have been ascribed to geographic isolation,abiotic and biotic differences between populations, and/or hybridization andpolyploidization. The Cordilleran Campanula L. (Campanulaceae Juss.), a monophyletic clade of mostly endemic arctic-alpine taxa from western North America, experienced a recent and rapid radiation. We set out to unravel the factors that likely influenced speciation in this group. To do so, we integrated environmental, genetic, and morphological datasets, tested biogeographic hypotheses, and analyzed the potential consequences of the various factors on the evolutionary history of the clade. We created paleodistribution models to identify potential Pleistocene refugia for the clade and estimated niche space for individual taxa using geographic and climatic data. Using 11 nuclear loci, we reconstructed a species tree and tested biogeographic hypotheses derived from the paleodistribution models. Finally, we tested 28 morphological characters, including floral, vegetative, and seed characteristics, for their capacity to differ- entiate taxa. Our results show that the combined effect of Quaternary climatic variation, isolation among differing environments in the mountains in western North America, and biotic factors influencing floral morphology contributed to speciation in this group during the mid-Pleistocene. Furthermore, our biogeographic analyses uncovered asynchronous consequences of interglacial and glacial periods for the timing of refugial isolation within the southern and northwestern mountains, respectively. These findings have broad implications for understanding the processes promoting speciation in arctic-alpine plants and the rise of numerous endemic taxa across the region

Aggregate Versus Subaggregate Models in Local Area Forecasting

Should statistical forecasts be constructed by aggregating data to each level for which forecasts are required or aggregating the forecasts from the lower levels? The relevant literature suggest no general answer. In this study using actual data, forecasts aggregated form lower-level forecasts were found best

Selection on Crop-Derived Traits and QTL in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Crop-Wild Hybrids under Water Stress

Locally relevant conditions, such as water stress in irrigated agricultural regions, should be considered when assessing the risk of crop allele introgression into wild populations following hybridization. Although research in cultivars has suggested that domestication traits may reduce fecundity under water stress as compared to wild-like phenotypes, this has not been investigated in crop-wild hybrids. In this study, we examine phenotypic selection acting on, as well as the genetic architecture of vegetative, reproductive, and physiological characteristics in an experimental population of sunflower crop-wild hybrids grown under wild-like low water conditions. Crop-derived petiole length and head diameter were favored in low and control water environments. The direction of selection differed between environments for leaf size and leaf pressure potential. Interestingly, the additive effect of the crop-derived allele was in the direction favored by selection for approximately half the QTL detected in the low water environment. Selection favoring crop-derived traits and alleles in the low water environment suggests that a subset of these alleles would be likely to spread into wild populations under water stress. Furthermore, differences in selection between environments support the view that risk assessments should be conducted under multiple locally relevant conditions

Deep Genetic Divergence between Disjunct Refugia in the Arctic-Alpine King’s Crown, Rhodiola integrifolia (Crassulaceae)

Despite the strength of climatic variability at high latitudes and upper elevations, we still do not fully understand how plants in North America that are distributed between Arctic and alpine areas responded to the environmental changes of the Quaternary. To address this question, we set out to resolve the evolutionary history of the King’s Crown, Rhodiola integrifolia using multi-locus population genetic and phylogenetic analyses in combination with ecological niche modeling. Our population genetic analyses of multiple anonymous nuclear loci revealed two major clades within R. integrifolia that diverged from each other ~ 700 kya: one occurring in Beringia to the north (including members of subspecies leedyi and part of subspecies integrifolia), and the other restricted to the Southern Rocky Mountain refugium in the south (including individuals of subspecies neomexicana and part of subspecies integrifolia). Ecological niche models corroborate our hypothesized locations of refugial areas inferred from our phylogeographic analyses and revealed some environmental differences between the regions inhabited by its two subclades. Our study underscores the role of geographic isolation in promoting genetic divergence and the evolution of endemic subspecies in R. integrifolia. Furthermore, our phylogenetic analyses of the plastid spacer region trnL-F demonstrate that among the native North American species, R. integrifolia and R. rhodantha are more closely related to one another than either is to R. rosea. An understanding of these historic processes lies at the heart of making informed management decisions regarding this and other Arctic-alpine species of concern in this increasingly threatened biome

Deep Genetic Divergence Between Disjunct Refugia in the Arctic-Alpine King\u27s Crown, Rhodiola integrifolia (Crassulaceae)

Despite the strength of climatic variability at high latitudes and upper elevations, we still do not fully understand how plants in North America that are distributed between Arctic and alpine areas responded to the environmental changes of the Quaternary. To address this question, we set out to resolve the evolutionary history of the King’s Crown, Rhodiola integrifolia using multi-locus population genetic and phylogenetic analyses in combination with ecological niche modeling. Our population genetic analyses of multiple anonymous nuclear loci revealed two major clades within R. integrifolia that diverged from each other ~ 700 kya: one occurring in Beringia to the north (including members of subspecies leedyi and part of subspecies integrifolia), and the other restricted to the Southern Rocky Mountain refugium in the south (including individuals of subspecies neomexicana and part of subspecies integrifolia). Ecological niche models corroborate our hypothesized locations of refugial areas inferred from our phylogeographic analyses and revealed some environmental differences between the regions inhabited by its two subclades. Our study underscores the role of geographic isolation in promoting genetic divergence and the evolution of endemic subspecies in R. integrifolia. Furthermore, our phylogenetic analyses of the plastid spacer region trnL-F demonstrate that among the native North American species, R. integrifolia and R. rhodantha are more closely related to one another than either is to R. rosea. An understanding of these historic processes lies at the heart of making informed management decisions regarding this and other Arctic-alpine species of concern in this increasingly threatened biome