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Persistence of the gypsophile Lepidospartum burgessii (Asteraceae) through clonal growth and limited gene flow

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Abstract

Lepidospartum burgessii is a rare gypsophilic shrub with limited distribution in New Mexico and Texas. Most of the known plants are restricted to two large populations, with a few small, isolated populations scattered in the surrounding area. The low recruitment observed in the two largest populations may be due to low seed set resulting from high inbreeding and/or self-incompatibility. We used eight microsatellite loci to quantify diversity, relatedness, inbreeding, population structure, and frequency of clonal reproduction. Seed collections were made to quantify seed set and germination rates. Overall, there was a moderate level of clonal diversity within patches of L. burgessii indicating asexual growth is important for population persistence. Inbreeding coefficients were high both between and within populations. Most patches showed a significant level of relatedness between individuals. At a fine scale, patches within populations were significantly different from each other, however when all patches were combined, the two populations of L. burgessii were not genetically distinct. Compared to a population of its common congener, Lepidospartum latisquamum, L. burgessii populations had similar measures of diversity, more clonal reproduction, and lower germination rates. High relatedness and inbreeding may explain the low seed set and recruitment in L. burgessii, however factors such as insect herbivory and precipitation changes may further depress recruitment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Mohamed Bin Zayed Conservation Fund, and the BLM Plant Conservation Program for funding. We thank Guadalupe National Park, the Conservation Land Management internship program and its participants for field work, John Keller for laboratory work, and Dean Tonnena for collections. Comments by anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Science and Conservation, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Drive, Glencoe, IL, 60022, USA

    Evelyn Webb Williams, Jeremie Fant & Kayri Havens

  2. Department of Biology, Carleton College, 1 N College Street, Northfield, MN, 55057, USA

    Rachel Cheung

  3. Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1102 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Chloe Siegel

  4. Bureau of Land Management, 1800 Marquess Street, Las Cruces, NM, 88005, USA

    Michael Howard

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  1. Evelyn Webb Williams
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  2. Rachel Cheung
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  3. Chloe Siegel
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  5. Jeremie Fant
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Correspondence to Evelyn Webb Williams.

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Williams, E.W., Cheung, R., Siegel, C. et al. Persistence of the gypsophile Lepidospartum burgessii (Asteraceae) through clonal growth and limited gene flow. Conserv Genet 17, 1201–1211 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-016-0855-0

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