[PCA] WEB: Genetic Considerations in Ecological Restoration: An annotated bibliography

[Olivia Kwong]

http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/ASP/CPC_GCERBRefTopicList.asp

Genetic considerations in ecological restoration: an annotated 
bibliography

About this Project

Land managers often face the need to plan and implement revegetation or 
restoration work for disturbed or degraded habitats. Often there is 
relatively little background information to provide context about a focal 
species or the greater plant community. A common concern, particularly
for larger scale restoration, centers on how to make decisions about the 
selection of wild source material to be used. Managers are seeking 
information about the importance of local genetic adaptation in 
restoration work, and how to maximize the chances for successful 
restoration and minimize the possibility of any deleterious effects.

Many managers have questions about the kinds of dynamic processes in play 
in the genetics of populations, how common (and how fine scale) local 
adaptation may be, how it may vary among and between species, and the 
potential deleterious or positive effects inherent in different approaches 
for selecting source material. They wonder how definitive and well 
studied some of these issues may be. They want to make the best choice, 
but wonder what really matters, and the severity of any risks. Decisions 
about these issues may affect production processes and the economics of 
producing native plant materials and implementing restoration projects.

Most biologists and land managers are not genetic experts and have limited 
time to devote to indepth study of the issues. Nevertheless they would 
like to develop a basic background in the pertinent literature, and 
understand the issues that need to be balanced in making decisions.
Examining different approaches and the potential consequences of different 
choices will help us make sensible decisions for their particular 
situation.

The Center for Plant Conservation has grappled with these same issues. We 
decided that conducting a literature review to explore some of the key 
issues, and making that bibliography available with a short summary of the 
contents of each work would be helpful. The result of that effort is the 
bibliography topics.

We asked the assistance of a number of population geneticists to review 
and help in this effort. They were generous with their time and we 
appreciate their investment. A list of advisers who participated in this 
effort is available on the website. This group continues work to help 
articulate areas where more information is needed, examine different 
approaches for different kinds of restoration challenges, and help develop 
some practical recommendations for managers.

This bibliography would not have been possible without the dedication and 
excellent research skills of Andrea Kramer, who conducted a great deal of 
the review as a part of her graduate studies, and the help of Kim Preston 
who assisted as well during an internship with the Center for Plant 
Conservation. We thank both of these student scientists. Lori Calcaterra, 
our volunteer special information librarian, also provided advice and 
assistance in the literature searches.

Finally, the Center for Plant Conservation wishes to thank Congress for 
funding the Native Plant Materials Development Program, supporting 
development of appropriate native plant materials for rehabilitation of 
our wildlands. We also thank The Bureau of Land Management for their
support for this project.


Scope of the Literature Review and Intended Use

While initially intended to present available literature on the topic of 
ecotypes, the scope of the bibliography was expanded as a result of 
discussions with numerous authorities on the subject (see report for list 
of meeting attendees). The current bibliography now presents literature 
on topics broadly relevant to genetic considerations in ecological 
restoration. Inclusion of literature was not limited to peer-reviewed 
scientific articles, but also includes grey literature, including book 
chapters, papers from meetings and symposia, and reports. While no 
references were knowingly excluded, it must be noted that this is not an 
exhaustive account of all literature that could potentially fall under the 
larger heading of .genetic considerations in ecological restoration. It 
is hoped, however, that the material presented will provide a basis for
understanding and allow further exploration under a number of relevant 
topics on this subject.


Methodology and Presentation

Along with input from experts in the field, numerous bibliographic search 
engines were used to compile the current references, including Web of 
Science, JSTOR, FirstSearch, Google Scholar, as well as Google and 
searches of grey literature databases and inquiries of agencies and
partners. Broad topics and subtopics that were searched under are outlined 
below. Abstracts and, in many cases, the entire text and references of 
available documents were scanned by the compiler to ensure inclusion of 
all citations under appropriate topic and subtopic headings. When 
available, author abstracts or summaries are presented with references. In 
cases when this was unavailable, a summary was written specifically for 
this project, based on the contents of the article. It can be noted that 
some topics and subtopics contain fewer references than others; this
is not intentional, but due to a lack of available published or 
unpublished literature on the specific subject. Given the increasing 
awareness of, and research on, these topics, it is anticipated that the 
bibliography will be continuously updated as information becomes 
available. If you can recommend additional references, or have suggestions 
for changes within the current bibliography, comments will be welcomed. 
Contact us at cpc at mobot.org.

The bibliography searches can be done by title, author, keyword or the 
topics as listed on the website.