Greenhouse study comparing plant provenance for restoration

RestoreNet is partnering with the Gornish lab at the University of Arizona to better understand how a plant’s source location (provenance) influences its performance in a restoration setting. This greenhouse experiment will be conducted by PhD student, Sierra Lauman. Sierra will use locally collected and commercially purchased seeds of eight commonly used restoration species for warm deserts of the southwestern US, grow them in a greenhouse, and then subject some of them to simulated drought treatments. She will then compare various plant characteristics to understand what happens to plants under drought, and if plants of the same species behave differently depending on where their seeds were sourced. Many thanks to the organizations who helped supply seeds for the project: Bureau of Land Management New Mexico, Institute for Applied Ecology’s Southwest Seed Partnership, and the Desert Botanical Garden. Find out more at http://www.usgs.gov/sbsc/ramps