Dataset

Database Code

SA029

Title

Western columbine genetics across HJ Andrews Experimental Forest meadow communities

Abstract

Woody plant encroachment is diminishing meadow and grassland habitat on a global scale. Increased woody cover influences local conditions such as light/shade environments, local soil characteristics, understory plant community structure, and disturbance regimes. Woody encroachment may also affect landscape-scale biological processes, such as herbaceous plant population structure, through reducing the total cover and continuity of open habitat and eroding mutualistic interactions, such as plant-pollinator interaction networks. A major concern is that habitat fragmentation will have a cascading effect if one or more mutualistic partners is adversely affected. For example, if pollinators are sensitive to disturbance, fragmentation may reduce rates of gene flow among sub-populations of plants, which is predicted to decrease effective population sizes and diminish adaptive potential (i.e. the capacity to respond to selective pressures through the evolution of genetically-based and heritable traits). Alpine meadows of the Cascade Mountains, which support diverse wildflower and pollinator communities, have shrunk dramatically over the last century as a result of forest encroachment. We posited that, as meadows become smaller and less connected, pollinators may abandon the smallest meadows and focus foraging efforts on the largest, most connected meadows with the most resources. This could expedite the decline and ultimate collapse of meadow communities through reducing adaptive potential across sub-populations of plants. We focus on a plant-pollinator interaction between a common, nectar-producing plant, Aquilegia formosa (western columbine), and rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) pollinators in four montane meadow complexes in the H.J. Andrews experimental forest, Oregon, USA (HJA). Using hummingbird movement data from SA028 (see H.J. Andrews project database), we first ask whether further forest encroachment in the HJA may alter hummingbird movement patterns among meadows. Secondly, using genotyping-by-sequencing to query the genomes of A. formosa individuals from 28 meadows representing a gradient of small and isolated meadows to large, connected meadows, we ask whether contemporary hummingbird movements predict plant population genetic structure and connectivity. A strong hummingbird preference for open habitat and support for a model predicting genetic distances among plants with hummingbird movement over standard geographic distances would support our hypothesis. Alternative results may suggest more robust plant-pollinator interactions in the face of woody encroachment. Western columbine leaves were collected from 28 meadows within the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon, USA. We sampled six meadows on Lookout Mountain, twelve along Frissell Ridge, six on Carpenter Mountain, and two clearings along forest road 506.

Keywords

genetics; meadows

Date begin

2019-06-21

Date end

2019-06-26

Principal Investigator

Andy Jones

Entities

1. Meadow characteristics
2. Individual plant information and cover

1. Meadow characteristics - Attribute list

2. Individual plant information and cover - Attribute list

Attribute definitions

COMPLEX

Cluster of meadows

COVER

Overstory cover

DBCODE

FSDB Database Code

ELEVATION

meters above sea level

ENTITY

Entity number

FLW_STATUS

Whether or not the plant had flowers at the time of sampling

MEADOW

Name of the meadow according to HJA meadows shape file

MEADOW_AREA

Area covered by the meadow plot

MEADOW_PLOT

meadow id for sampled area within a meadow (sub meadow)

NOTES

sample notes

PLANT_ID

Unique plant ID for individual

PL_IN_5M

number of conspecifics in a 5m radius from the focal plant

PROP_FOREST50

Proportion of forest within a 50 meter radius around the centroid of a meadow plot

PROP_FOREST100

Proportion of forest within a 100 meter radius around the centroid of a meadow plot

PROP_FOREST500

Proportion of forest within a 500 meter radius around the centroid of a meadow plot

SAMPLEDATE

Date of sampling

SPECIES_CODE

Code representing species scientific name

STRATUM

Stratum of the meadow plot

X_COORD

X coordinate, WGS84, UTM Zone 10

Y_COORD

Y coordinate WGS84, UTM Zone 10

Enumerated domains

Enumerated domain for attribute: DBCODE

Enumerated domain for attribute: COMPLEX

Enumerated domain for attribute: MEADOW

Enumerated domain for attribute: MEADOW_PLOT

Enumerated domain for attribute: STRATUM

Enumerated domain for attribute: SPECIES_CODE

Enumerated domain for attribute: FLW_STATUS