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INTRODUCTION 



Arabis fecunda Rollins is a candidate threatened 

 species (Category 2) in Montana (Schassberger 1988) . 

 Management efforts to conserve this restricted species must 

 include an understanding of the amount and kind of genetic 

 variation present in A. fecunda . We have examined the level 

 of genetic variability in six populations using protein 

 electrophoresis (allozymes) . 



METHODS 



We included six populations of Arabis fecunda in 

 electrophoretic trials: 1) Charleys Gulch (EO 001) , 2) 

 Birch Creek Bluffs (EO 004), 3) Jerry Creek (EO 007), 4) 

 Mouth of Quartz Hill Gulch (EO 006), 5) Vipond Park (011), 

 and 6) Lime Gulch (EO 012). During 5-7 April 1990, 160 

 seeds from each population (960 total seeds) were planted in 

 a randomized complete block design. Plants grew in a 

 University of Montana greenhouse until harvest during 28-31 

 May 1990. Forty plants from each population were randomly 

 placed into one of four grinding buffers (Soltis et al. 

 1983): 1) phosphate-PVP, pH 7.5, 2) tris-maleate-PVP, pH 

 7.5, 3) tris-HCl-PVP, pH 7.5, or 4) distilled water, pH 6.2. 

 Plants in each grinding buffer were divided randomly into 

 two grinding methods: 1) plant ground before freezing (- 

 80C) , or 2) plant ground after freezing (-20C) . Specimens 

 were kept on ice and pulverized in 0.5 ml grinding buffer. 



