Ecological, morphological, micromorphological and molecular analyses of the species in the hexastylis heterophylla complex.

Details

• Creators:
  Murrell, Zack E. ; Padgett, James E. ; Gillespie, Emily L. ; Williams, Falina
• Corporate Creators:
  Appalachian State University. Dept. of Biology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Plants
  • Classes of living things
  • Conservation
  • Habitat (Ecology)
  • Environmental impacts
  • Plants--North Carolina
  • Habitat conservation--North Carolina
  • Plants, Protection of--North Carolina
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/NC/2004-01
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  North Carolina
• Edition:
  Final report; July 2001-June 2003.
• Corporate Publisher:
  North Carolina. Department of Transportation. Research and Analysis Group
• Abstract:
  Both Blomquist and Gaddy recognized a group of eight Hexastylis (commonly known as “Wild Gingers” or “Little Brown ; Jugs”) that are referred to as the Virginica Group. This group was further subdivided into the three Subgroups: Virginica, ; Shuttleworthii, and Heterophylla. Three species have been recognized in the Heterophylla complex. Field biologists have ; generally recognized considerable morphological overlap occurs in this group. The three species that are placed in the ; Heterophylla complex are Hexastylis naniflora, H. heterophylla and H. minor. Hexastylis naniflora is a federally threatened ; species that is found in the rapidly growing area of the western Piedmont of North and South Carolina. The range of H. naniflora ; is restricted by soil type, biogeography, and ecology. Herbarium specimens were borrowed from 17 herbaria and these 693 ; specimens were used to generate distribution maps for the three species in the H. heterophylla complex. Elemental occurrence ; data were obtained from the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program and the South Carolina Heritage Trust Program to augment ; the distribution map for H. naniflora. Based upon these maps, field investigations were conducted across the range of the three ; species in the complex. We conducted ecological, morphological, micromorphological, soil, pollen, and molecular analyses of the ; H. heterophylla complex. Using ecological and biogeographical information obtained from our study, we located 31 new ; populations of H. naniflora; one of the new populations was found to be unique to the Yadkin River drainage. This effort brings ; the total known populations of H. naniflora to 143. Eighty-five populations of the three species in the H. heterophylla complex ; were subjected to field investigations. Using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), we found pollen characters that distinguish ; H. naniflora from other members within the subgroup. In a comparative analysis using Inter Simple Sequence Repeats, we were ; unable to find banding patterns that could be used to separate H. naniflora from the other members within the complex. Based ; upon biogeographical, ecological, molecular, morphological, as well as micromorphological work, our results show that H. ; naniflora Blomquist is a well-defined species, however, Hexastylis minor (Ashe) Blomquist and Hexastylis heterophylla (Ashe) ; Small exhibit considerable overlap that make species circumscription difficult. Our intraspecific analysis of Hexastylis naniflora ; was based on analysis of soil, ecology, molecular characters and morphology, where we compared populations in the Broad- ; Pacolet, Catawba, and Yadkin River drainages. This analysis provides information that can be used in future conservation and ; management efforts for H. naniflora.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/17170/dot_17170_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.59 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:3f0f769772d3d68b73f0266a2f81f2eb50a23fdc2062ef4c9c0fd799aa752234