Abstract Detail

Genetics Section

Huaber, Donald P. [1], White, David A. [2].

Evidence of invasive introduced cattail in marshes of the Mississippi River delta and central U.S. Gulf Coast.

Within the past 10 years, the interior marshes in the Mississippi River “Balize” delta have experienced a rapid, massive colonization by an unknown variety of cattail. Samplings taken throughout the Balize delta share the same morphologies and collectively, this taxon does not easily key to either of the native species, Typha latifolia and T. domingensis - nor does it exhibit characteristics of the introduced T. angustifolia. We reported last year on preliminary microsatellite results in this taxon, referred to as ‘delta’, suggesting it may represent an exotic, or hybrid involving an exotic putative parent. This was based on high levels of heterozygosity and five unique allele phenotypes previously unreported in Typha spp. from the United States. The current study includes more microsatellite data, more populations, and chloroplast haplotypes of a partial sequence (~320 bp) of the trnL/trnF intergenic region. The haplotype data revealed a substitution polymorphism found within every ‘delta’ population sampled. Otherwise, the remainder of the sequence was shared by all the ‘delta’ samples. The ‘delta’ haplotype differed by 6-7 mutations from the local populations of T. latifolia and T. domingensis, but shared identical sequences (considering the substitution polymorphism) with GenBank accessions of T. capensis, T. angustifolia, T. domingensis and T. laxmannii. Finally, a Typha population that resembled ‘delta’ near Spanish Fort, AL had the same chloroplast haplotype (and same substitution polymorphism) as the ‘delta’ samples. This suggests that ‘delta’ has a broader distribution than just the Balize delta and may be accounting for the some of the reported (unpub.) increase in Typha coverage based on coastwide vegetation surveys (1997-2013) along the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

1 - Loyola Universtiy, Dept Of Biol Sci-Box 27, 6363 St. Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA
2 - Loyola Universtiy, Department Of Biological Sciences, Box 150, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

Keywords:
Typha
invasive species
hybridization.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Hall D/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PGN010
Abstract ID:609
Candidate for Awards:None