well under certain condi- 

 tions," Kane says. "And 

 when they're moved, they 

 wouldn't do as well. Or they 

 may do too well. But with 

 sea oats that wouldn't be a 

 problem. That would be a 

 nice thing." 



Knowing the genotypes 

 that survive and stabilize the 

 high-energy areas of 

 Florida's panhandle, for 

 instance, can help restore 

 similarly unstable dunes 

 elsewhere. Likewise, sea 

 oats in North Carolina reflect 

 the growing conditions and 

 dune systems of their native 

 beaches. Understanding their 

 genetic differences will help 

 screen plants from distinct 

 geographical sources for 

 their tolerance to certain 

 conditions, Kane says. 



Who Can Use 

 This Kind of 

 Information? 



Resource managers and 

 commercial nurseries will 

 benefit from the research. 

 And, eventually, property 

 owners and anyone who 

 enjoys the aesthetics of 

 dunes will gain from 

 improved restoration 

 techniques. 



Once scientists have 

 measured the genetic 

 diversity among sea oats, 

 they can help resource 

 managers answer questions 

 about the advisability of 

 mixing and moving these 

 plants to repair damaged 

 dunes. The study can also 

 identify genotypes that tolerate 

 marginal conditions — a potential 

 boon for commercial nurseries. 



At the root of this project is the 

 need for more and better plant 

 materials. Recent storms in Florida 

 have decimated sea oat populations, 



DNA analyses can tell researchers the range of 

 genetic diversity among sea oats at one location 

 and at sites hundreds of miles apart. 



Rooted sea oats are ready for the greenhouse, where they grow 

 to about a foot tall before they're planted in the field. 



from healthy dunes rather 

 than pull up mature plants 

 and move them to a dam- 

 aged area. The seeds are 

 germinated and grown to 

 about a foot in height before 

 they're placed on dunes. 

 These plants are usually not 

 cloned, but sometimes their 

 shoot clusters are divided to 

 make more plants. 



Complicating the 

 supply problems are some 

 regulators' concerns about 

 nurseries gathering seeds 

 from dwindling natural 

 stands and possibly intro- 

 ducing "unsuitable" 

 genotypes to an area being 

 restored. 



"One of the concerns 

 that has kept coming up is 

 geographical source of sea 

 oats," Kane says. "Is it 

 ecologically sound to plant 

 sea oats from the Atlantic 

 Coast side on the Gulf side? 

 This is raised as a concern." 



Opposition to mixing 

 genotypes of sea oats is not 

 based on any proven fact 

 that the practice can be a 

 problem, Kane says. As of 

 yet, regulators don't know 

 how much diversity occurs 

 naturally in a group of sea 

 oats. And they don't have 

 enough information to fully 

 understand the relationships 

 between geographic sources 

 of plant materials, genetic 

 diversity and successful 

 habitat restoration. 



Kane wants to supply 

 that information through his 

 research. 



making it difficult for nurseries to get 

 enough seeds for restoration. 



"You can't get seed without a 

 population," Kane says. "And you 

 can't restore dunes without the seeds. 

 So it's a double-edged sword." 



As a rule, nurseries harvest seeds 



Research is Rooting Out 

 Genetic Diversity 



How does Kane translate a plant's 

 genetic code into a fingerprint? What 

 is involved in distinguishing the DNA 

 of seemingly homogeneous sea oats 



12 MAY/JUNE 1997 



