Oral Paper

         Conservation Biology

Conservation genetics of the imperiled Mountain Purple Pitcherplant, Sarracenia purpurea var. montana

Presenting Author
Amanda Carmichael
Description
Sarracenia purpurea var. montana is a pitcher plant native to the Southern Appalachian mountain bogs. This variety is currently under review for listing under the Endangered Species Act and is considered S1 or critically imperiled by NatureServe due to threats of habitat destruction and degradation. There is only one existing population of this endemic variety left in the state of Georgia. In the early 1990s, horticulturists from the Atlanta Botanical Garden (ABG) propagated two of ten remaining plants from this population at the ABG Greenhouse. These two plants were crossed to generate F1 individuals, which were then outplanted at the natural site as well as six in situ safeguarding sites around north Georgia. Since then, garden-grown plants have become naturalized and have been interbreeding on their own. We are interested in testing 1) the level of genetic diversity at in situ safeguarding sites, and 2) whether inbreeding has occurred at the extant natural site where F1 offspring were outplanted. DNA was isolated from 190 individuals using a modified CTAB extraction method. Genomic DNA was converted into nextRAD genotyping-by-sequencing libraries and sequenced on a Novaseq 6000 with one lane of 122 bp reads (SNPSaurus, University of Oregon). Genetic analyses show that the full extent of genetic diversity is not represented in each of the six safeguarding sites. Clonal analyses show a high level of relatedness but the plants are likely not clonal, implying a high level of inbreeding. This study is important in informing the future management of these safeguarding sites, and future outplantings need to target genetically distinct individuals that are not represented at the particular safeguarding site to ensure that sites capture full genetic representation in this taxon.