[APWG] WLBG Genetic break-through [1 Attachment]

[Marc Imlay]

FYI,

 

Marc Imlay

 

Conservation biologist, Board member of the Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant
Council, Vice president of the Maryland Native Plant Society, Chair of the
Biodiversity and Habitat Stewardship Committee for the Maryland Chapter of
the Sierra Club.

 

 

  _____  

From: ma-eppc at yahoogroups.com [mailto:ma-eppc at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Kyde, Kerrie L.
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 6:01 PM
To: 'Wavyleaf Basketgrass Task Force'; wlbg at pecva.org; MISC
(INVASIVES at LISTSERV.UMD.EDU); ma-eppc at yahoogroups.com; Bohn, Richard; Early,
Steve; Geredien, Ross; Kilian, Jay; Klauda, Ron; McKnight, Jonathan; Naylor,
Mike; Norden, Butch; Speir, Harley; Widman, Sarah E
Cc: Les Mehrhoff; Melton, Robin; 'Joe Metzger'
Subject: [ma-eppc] WLBG Genetic break-through [1 Attachment]

 

[Attachment(s) from Kyde, Kerrie L. included below] 



Hi all,

I wanted to give you the newest piece of information we have on WLBG.  I
apologize for any cross-postings; many of you are members of more than one
list.

 

I spoke this week with Sharon Talley, researcher at APHIS, Fort Collins, CO,
who has been doing a lot of work with various Oplismenus hirtellus taxa.
Sharon's findings, which are written up in the attached excerpt from the
2009 Report from APHIS' Center for Plant Health Science and Technology,
indicate clearly that the WLBG invader in the Mid-Atlantic IS NOT a
reversion of a variegated ornamental.  Sharon analyzed DNA sequences from
nuclei and chloroplasts and found that our native Oplismenus hirtellus ssp.
setarius (found in VA but not MD), the variegated ornamental in both its
original AND reverted to all-green form, and the invader, are different from
one another genetically as well as morphologically.  
  
This means that it is most likely that the invasive grass spreading in MA
and VA is the same as the SE Asian grass called Oplismenus undulatifolus -
that is, these are two names for the same botanical entity. Sharon can take
it even further: our grass is genetically the same as O undulatifolius ssp.
japonicus. The experts seem prepared to accept O. hirtellus ssp.
undulatifolius as the current name for our invasive grass, following the
work of Ursula Scholz in her monograph on the genus.  What all this means is
that we are back to square one with the question: how and when was the
invasive grass introduced to the U.S.?  It also means that we don't have to
worry about throwing the variegated ornamental on the compost pile at the
end of the season. 
  
Sharon's work also takes us one step closer to letting APHIS list our
invasive grass as a federal noxious weed.  More on that will be forthcoming.

 

Kerrie L. Kyde

Habitat Ecologist/ Invasive Plant Specialist

Wildlife and Heritage Service

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

11960 Clopper Road

Gaithersburg, MD 20878

301/948-8243

 

 

Attachment(s) from Kyde, Kerrie L. 

1 of 1 File(s) 

  <http://l.yimg.com/kq/static/images/yg/img/doc/pdf16x16.gif> 

Talley
<http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/189401/906424619/name/Talley%20Experiment%20Me
thods%20for%20Invasive%20Plants%202010%2Epdf>  Experiment Methods for
Invasive Plants 2010.pdf

 

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