Restored plant populations frequently fail to establish or don’t persist over short to intermediate periods of time. These unsuccessful restoration attempts may be the result of strong selection and a high degree of maladaptation within restored populations. There are various potential evolutionary causes of maladaptation within restored systems, which may ultimately lead to extirpation. Here, I investigated whether current restoration practises systematically lead to stronger selection and a greater magnitude of maladaptation, by comparing restored prairie populations of Monarda fistulosa to naturally occurring populations. Phenotypic selection and maladaptation analyses were conducted on nine ecologically important traits in three restored and three natural tall grass prairie populations. Significant differences in selection and maladaptation were detected among the six study populations; however there was no significant difference between restored and natural populations. The lack of difference may indicate that the restored populations are well adapted to their environment or that natural populations are less well adapted than assumed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OGU.10214/4947 |
| Date | 20 December 2012 |
| Creators | Hamelin, Ryan |
| Contributors | Husband, Brian |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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