| Abstract Detail
Systematics Section / ASPT Morton, Cynthia [1], Gruszka, Philip [2]. Genetic Diversity Study of Platanus x acerfolia (London Plain Trees (LPT)). ACROSS many cities, LPT’s have been widely planted. This species is a hybrid between the Oriental Planetree (Platanus orientalis) and the American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis). The LPT does not produce viable offspring and are not environmentally invasive therefore it is a welcomed species. The LPT is the dominant species in the Schenley Park Entry Plaza. There are over 100 trees growing there currently and plans to plant another 100 trees to restore the LPT’s that have been reduced over the past few decades. The objective of this research is to enhance the diversity and reduce having a monoculture species within the park, which is susceptible to insect and disease. Using AFLP markers, genetic diversity was estimated in a collection of 42 Platanus x acerfolia accessions mainly from cultivated species from Schenley Park and regional nurseries. Five selective primer combinations generated a total of 492 amplification products. The average number of scoreable fragments was 100 per primer combination. A total of 346 polymorphic markers were detected. The final phenetic trees were constructed using Nei and Li’s coefficient of similarity with UPGMA. Bootstrap analyses were completed and their values indicated strong to moderate support. The phenetic tree separated the nursery stock tree into two main clades with low genetic diversity whereas the 100 year old Schenley Park trees were much more genetically diverse. Overall, the goal is to plant new trees using cuttings from the Schenley population which have high genetic diversity to maintain an insect and disease hardy population.
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1 - Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, USA
2 - Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, 242 McKee Place, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213, USA
Keywords:
AFLP.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 6-3
Location: 106/Ayres
Date: Monday, July 31st, 2006
Time: 8:45 AM
Abstract ID:816 |
