Vol 31, Part I - forums.sou.edu • Index page - Southern Oregon ...

ABSTRACTS – Contributed Oral Papers
ECOLOGY, ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY,
and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Monday, starting at 9:00 a.m. in WILLOWS 2
114a Flowering Patterns following Tephra Disturbance of
Understory Herbs in Old-growth Subalpine Forest, DON-
ALD ZOBEL 1 and JOSEPH ANTOS 2 ( 1 Botany and Plant
Pathology, Oregon State University, Cordley Hall 2082, Corvallis
OR 97331; 2 Biology, University of Victoria, PO Box
3020 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3N5; zobeld@
science.oregonstate.edu).
During succession, flowering allows plants to increase
in density and to spread farther than via vegetative reproduction.
Within a community, species range from those for
which frequent flowering is essential for spread to those that
rarely flower. However, few studies consider the full variation
in flowering within a community. Here we analyze flowering
of understory herbs, using permanent plots in forests
affected by 1980 tephra from Mount St. Helens. Incidence of
flowering in 1980-83, 2000, 2005, and 2010 was related to
environment and species properties using logistic regression.
Flowering varied widely among species, with some
never flowering. Overall, incidence of flowering was greater
in herb-rich sites than in sites with few species, but there was
no overall difference between sites with 4.5 versus 15 cm
tephra. Plants with a graminoid or a deciduous, non-clonal
growth form had the highest incidence of flowering; clonal
deciduous and clonal evergreen plants were intermediate;
non-clonal evergreen plants seldom flowered. Species limited
to forest flowered more consistently than those that also
grow in meadows or in early seral conditions. With time,
incidence of flowering increased for deep tephra, herb-poor
sites, species that also grow in early-seral sites, and those
restricted to forests. Species differed widely in their patterns
of flowering among years and with environment. Incidence
varied among common species from 0% (Xerophyllum
tenax) of the situations in which a species was present to
85% (Tiarella unifoliata). Where flowering occurred, 4 to
19% of shoots flowered.
115 Testing Monophyly and Phylogenetic Relationships of
Smittium (Harpellales) using a Five-Gene Molecular Phylogenetic
Analysis, YAN WANG 1 *, ERIC D TRETTER 1 ,
ERIC M JOHNSON 1 , PRASANNA KANDEL 1 , Robert
W LICHTWARDT 2 , and MERLIN M WHITE 1
( 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University,
1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725; 2 Department
of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas,
1200 Sunnyside Avenue, Haworth Hall, Lawrence, KS
66045; Yanwang@u.boisestate.edu).
Smittium is a ubiquitous group of fungi, best known
as endosymbionts of various Arthropods, thus commonly
referred to as the gut fungi. During the 75 years since the
first species, Smittium arvernense, was described, Smittium
has grown to include 81 species. The symbiotic relationships
within this genus range from commensalism, mutualism,
to parasitism. This genus has also helped to advance
our understanding of the gut fungi, by serving as a “model”
for laboratory studies of the fungal trichomycetes. Many
isolates of Smittium have been used for host feeding, isozyme,
physiological, serological, ultrastructural, and now
ongoing molecular systematic studies. Previous and recent
molecular studies have shown that Smittium is polyphyletic
but with consistent separation of Smittium culisetae, one of
the most common and widespread species, from the remainder
of Smittium species. Here we used morphological (sexual
and asexual spores shape), molecular (18S and 28S rRNA
genes), immunological, and isozyme evidence to suggest a
new genus, Zancudomyces, to accommodate Smittium culisetae.
A multi-gene dataset, consisting of 18S and 28S rRNA
genes, as well as RPB1, RPB2, and MCM7 translated protein
sequences for Smittium and related Harpellales (Austrosmittium,
Coleopteromyces, Furculomyces, Pseudoharpella,
Stachylina and Trichozygospora), was used for phylogenetic
analyses to test the monophyly of Smittium. A consensus
tree was generated with strong support at multiple levels.
The clades and branches of the tree were assessed relative
to morphological traits for the taxa of interest, including
holdfast shape, thallus branching type, trichospore (asexual
spore) and zygospores (sexual spore) characters as an aid to
inform the taxonomy and eventual systematic revisions and
reclassification. A narrower genus definition of Smittium was
supported by molecular data, and approved by morphological
reexamination.
116 Investigating the Presence and Impacts of Wolbachia,
a Bacterial Symbiont, on a Threatened Butterfly, AMY
TRUITT* and CATHERINE De RIVERA (Department
of Environmental Science and Management, Portland State
University, 1825 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201; amtruitt@pdx.edu).
The endosymbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia, likely affect
population dynamics of the imperiled Oregon silverspot butterfly,
(Speyeria zerene hippolyta, OSB) and may have been
a contributor in the decline of its many extirpated populations.
Some strains of Wolbachia induce cytoplasmic incompatibility
between its host insects and uninfected conspecifics,
including for many Lepidoptera. The goals of this study
were to determine: if this species is infected with Wolbachia,
whether infection affects population growth of this butterfly.
We conducted a screen for Wolbachia infection by collecting
samples from archived female butterflies (from 1999
and 2001-2011, n=234), extracting DNA from the samples,
and employing polymerase chain reaction protocols using
Wolbachia-specific primers. Reproduction data, eggs laid
and eggs hatched, for infected versus uninfected individuals
were analyzed. Proportion of infected individuals per year
was compared to population indices.
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