[PCA] Article (and Fun Video!): New Tumbleweed Species Rapidly Expanding Range

[Lindsey Riibe]

Researchers at UC Riverside recently published their findings on the range
expansion of a new tumbleweed species, *Salsola ryanii*. *Salsola ryanii*
is an allopolyploid hybrid of *S. australis*, an invasive in CA and AZ, and *S.
tragus*, and invasive found in 48 states.

First documented by California Department of Food and Agriculture
scientists in 2002, it was predicted S. ryanii would not become invasive.
The recent publication by Welles and Ellstrand "Rapid range expansion of a
newly formed allopolyploid weed in the genus Salsola" seems to contradict
the earlier prediction.

Here is a link to the article published in the American Journal of Botany
(abstract for free):
http://www.amjbot.org/content/early/2016/03/29/ajb.1500430.abstract

Here is a link to UC Riverside's story with *a great video* on the new
tumbleweed species, in the style of an *American Western** - n*ot to be
missed!
https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/35966


--
Lindsey Riibe
Conservation and Land Management Intern
Bureau of Land Management
Washington Office, DC
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