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Usage And Development Of Molecular Markers For Investigation Of The Population And Ecological Genetics Of Bromus Tectorum L., Keith R. Merrill
Usage And Development Of Molecular Markers For Investigation Of The Population And Ecological Genetics Of Bromus Tectorum L., Keith R. Merrill
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis includes two studies: The first examined patterns of neutral genetic diversity within Bromus tectorum L. across the IMW region, and uses patterns of microsatellite (SSR) genotype distribution to make inferences about the respective roles of adaptively significant genetic variation, adaptive phenotypic plasticity, and facultative outcrossing in the ongoing invasion and recent range expansion of B. tectorum. It has been previously demonstrated that, due to extremely low outcrossing rates, it is possible to characterize individual genotypes of this species using four SSR loci. We sampled 20 individuals from each of 96 B. tectorum populations (classified by region and …
Apparent Competition With Bromus Tectorum Through Pyrenophora Semeniperda Reduces Establishment Of Native Grasses, Katherine Temus Merrill
Apparent Competition With Bromus Tectorum Through Pyrenophora Semeniperda Reduces Establishment Of Native Grasses, Katherine Temus Merrill
Theses and Dissertations
Contributing to the success of Bromus tectorum in the Intermountain West may be a mechanism called apparent competition, which occurs when one species increases the pressure of a consumer on a second species. This indirect interaction has been documented only a few times in invasive plant systems, and never in a fungal pathosystem. We examined the effects of the invasive annual Bromus tectorum and predation by the seed pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda on seedling emergence and survival for two native grasses (Pseudoroegneria spicata and Elymus elymoides), by manipulating B. tectorum densities and P. semeniperda inoculum loads in randomized plots. …