Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 10:48:18 -0500 From: lasseter@chemvx.chem.tamu.edu (Lasseter Benjamin) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3150$foo@default> Subject: Genetic Diversity
>> No, it's mostly from Ocean County, NJ; but I have collected from all
>> over the east coast. I can't see any reason for labelling the location
>> data, as all the plants look the same. For this species, I feel data
>> location data worth keeping would be if the plants were from another
>> county, like Cuba or somewhere in South America where the climate is
>> completely different and so then might the plants' needs.
I think that preserving seeds in collections and keeping meticulous notes
on the location of their origin would be an excellent idea. The same
species from a different location may have extreme morphological
differences, yet be capable of fertilizing plants from other locations.
Perhaps one of our botany or genetics experts could comment on what I say
below...?
Regarding the speed of genetic drift, it should be remembered that most
mutations are disadvatageous to survival in the wild. Therefore, we could
expect the rate of change in the wild to be slow compared to what we would
see in hobby collections. On the other hand, I am not saying that there
would be a fast rate of drift in hobby collections. As a rough estimate,
the average collector could keep a line of plants for fifty years or more
and have no significant change in that time from when the line was first
taken from the original site. But it still would happen faster than in the
wild.
It might be argued that if genetic drift in the wild is so much slower, why
is it not better to transplant the same species from one location to
another? I would just point out that the rate of change in slower, but it
has probably been going on for a much longer time than any seed collection
could possibly have been kept. Thus, the collection is more likely to
imitate the original than a transplant.
Sincerely,
Benjamin F. Lasseter
P.S.
> Actually, the text above was from me (i.e. Paul Burkhardt). As for
>the >guilty party involved in the sar. purpurea flower/seed hiest, it's
>been >suggested that deer are eating them.
It is a comforting thought, therefore, that hunting season begins in a
couple of months.
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