Abstract Detail

Conservation Biology

Slimp, Madeline [1], Hale, Haley [2], Coker , Cassidy Reagan [3], Bailey, Zachary [4], Johnson, Matthew [5].

Herbaria as botanical snapshots: 50 years of land use and climate change impacts on genetics and physiology in the Guadalupe Mountains.

The GUMO collection in the E. L. Reed Herbarium at Texas Tech University contains over 2000 specimens collected from the Guadalupe Mountains National Park at its establishment in 1973. These herbarium specimens represent an historical snapshot of the botanical community, providing physical and genetic records of the past. Here we describe the ways in which the GUMO collection has been utilized in many different projects to investigate the genetic, morphological, and physiological status of a plant community prior to land use and climate change. Comparing historical data to modern samples could offer insight on how factors like climate change or human disturbance have affected plant populations. Preliminary results show that a target capture kit, Angiosperms 353, was successful in antique DNA samples. In addition to plant DNA, we also recovered fungal DNA from leaf and root tissue from herbarium specimens to assess the fungal microbiome. Other measures can be used as proxies for plant physiological responses; for example, stomatal density recorded from the GUMO collection has shown significant differences among plant life history strategies. Further physiological data, like carbon and nitrogen ratio, can also be collected be proxies for photosynthetic effort. We further describe efforts to resample the GUMO plant communities 50 years later.

Related Links:
Tropical Ecology and Evolution Lab

1 - Texas Tech University, Biology, 3824 Erskine Street, Lubbock, TX, 79416, USA
2 - Texas Tech University, 2901 Main St. , Lubbock, TX, 79409, United States
3 - Texas Tech University, 237 Pilgrim Rd, Abilene, TX, 79602, United States
4 - Harvard University
5 - Texas Tech University, Biological Sciences, 2901 Main Street, Ms3131, Lubbock, TX, 79409, United States

Keywords:
Angiosperms 353
Biodiversity
Herbarium.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: CB1, Conservation Biology 1
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2020
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: CB1003
Abstract ID:353
Candidate for Awards:None