Dissertation Research: Microevolutionary Dynamics and Conservation Genetics of the Rare Vernal Pool Sunflower Lasthenia Conjugens (Asteraceae)

春天的池塘是短暂的湿地，是许多特有植物和动物的家园。在加利福尼亚州的特拉维斯空军基地，一项修复项目正在进行中，以创造新的春天池塘，这些池塘将具有与自然池塘相似的生物多样性水平。拟对联邦濒危的春水池特有一年生植物“Lasthenia conjugens; Asteraceae”进行研究。本研究的主要目的是比较自然池与人工池中遗传变异的水平和模式随时间的变化，并评估昆虫-传粉者活动与遗传变异之间的关系。为了实现这些目标，将使用一种遗传指纹技术来测量遗传变异，并将这些信息与通过对传粉者活动的详细观察获得的信息进行比较。这项研究的结果将具有广泛的科学意义，并将有助于指导应用的保护管理决策。更广泛地说，这项研究将有助于我们了解独特而迅速消失的春水池特有物种的遗传和进化。很少有人对任何春池物种进行过详细的研究。从保护管理的角度出发，本研究将评估生态方法在保护物种遗传完整性和保护重要植物-传粉者关系方面的有效性。

Vernal pools are ephemeral wetlands that are home to many endemic plants and animals.At Travis Air Force Base in California, a restoration project is in progress to create new vernalpools that will have similar levels of biological diversity as natural pools. The proposed researchfocuses on the federally endangered vernal pool endemic annual plant called "Contra Costagoldfields" (Lasthenia conjugens; Asteraceae). The primary goals of the proposed study are tocompare changes in levels and patterns of genetic variation over time in natural vs. artificialpools and to assess the relationship between insect-pollinator activity and genetic variation. Toachieve those goals, a kind of genetic fingerprinting technique will be used to measure geneticvariation and that information will be compared to information obtained by making detailedobservations of pollinator activity.The results of this research will have broad scientific implications and will help guideapplied, conservation management decisions. More broadly, this study will contribute to ourunderstanding of the genetics and evolution of species endemic to the unique and rapidlydisappearing vernal pools. Few detailed studies of any vernal pool species have ever beenconducted. From a conservation management perspective, this study will assess theeffectiveness of an ecological approach to habitat restoration in preserving the genetic integrityof a species and in preserving important plant-pollinator relationships.