[APWG] Beginning of a journal article? Maybe add vacancy & evolution

[Wayne Tyson]

Craig and all:

I think Craig's ideas are fundamentally very good; both items 16 and 17 
being in great need of further study. We not only need more information 
about the species compositions, distribution, and density, and mostly the 
trends of those factors (they don't stay the same, and they vary from time 
to time and place to place). I, for one think "cover" is a vastly overused 
and misused measure, but that itself is another subject for discussion.

A lot of the grunt work may not require a grad student's breadth of 
competence, but primary school children should be able to handle some of the 
simplest stuff with a bit of training. What this sort of thing would require 
is simplicity of design, scientific validity, and a central data 
repository--and, of course, Open Access.

WT


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 10:12 AM
Subject: [APWG] Beginning of a journal article? Maybe add vacancy & 
evolution


> Dear Wayne and All,
>
> Looks like you have the beginning of a very interesting journal article on
> the interaction of exotics and natives, from your 15 item checklist.
>
> I would ask add,
>
> 16. The vacancy factor, in areas where native ecosystem understories have
> been catastrophically removed, like 99.99% of California, and a lot of the
> lands in the arid West, which allows vacancies for any and all exotics to
> have open land to colonize.
>
> 17. The evolution factor.  Where once naturalized, weeds are going along
> their own independent evolutionary track within the new continent, to get
> better adapted to their new surroundings.
>
> Any grad students looking for a project, might consider taking a
> widespread weed, like wild oats or ripgut grass, and sample across a large
> area, like the State of California, and see how it is evolving insitu.  By
> looking at the genetics of any widespread weed, especially one that has
> been established for 100 years or more, you can see evolution happening
> right in front of you.
>
> By sampling at the edges or the population, and at the environmental
> extremes--like the highest and lowest elevations within its range, the
> highest and lowest rainfall, the most northern and southern population,
> and from extreme soil types, like serpentine--then you will see where the
> genetic material is morphing, and evolving into new ecotypes.
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
>
>
>
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