Just Cerfing Vol. 7, Issue 8, August 2016 Volume 5, Issue 3, March, 2014 | Page 70
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Genetic Structure of Native and Restored Populations of American Beachgrass
(Ammophila breviligulata Fern.) along the New Jersey Coast
David H. Slaymaker, Michael S. Peek, Joanna Wresilo, Danielle C. Zeltner, and Yasmeen F. Saleh
Department of Biology
William Paterson University
Wayne, NJ 07470, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
Ammophila breviligulata Fern. (American beachgrass) is planted extensively along the Atlantic coast of North America and in the Great Lakes
region to stabilize damaged and constructed coastal dunes. Most A. breviligulata restorations are planted with a single cultivar for rapid dune stabilization. Restoration practice, however, is increasingly focused on maintaining native genetic diversity and restoring ecological services and function.
We used intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to characterize the
genetic structure of four native and four restored A. breviligulata populations along the coast of New Jersey on the northeastern Atlantic coast of
the United States. Native populations had high levels of genotypic diversity
for a clonal species, whereas restored populations on constructed dunes had
low diversity or were monotypic. Commercial varieties used in dune restoration were not found in native populations. Native foredune populations
were composed of many small-to medium-sized clones, while a rear-dune
population was dominated by a single large clone. Genetic differentiation
was low among native foredune populations. These results, discussed in the
context of other clonal and coastal dune species, suggest that sexual recruitment plays an important role in determining the genetic structure of A.
breviligulata populations, that gene flow has occurred among populations
along the New Jersey coast, and that native New Jersey populations could
provide genotypically diverse plant material for local restoration efforts.
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ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Clonal plants, ISSR, genotypic diversity,
molecular population genetics, coastal dune restoration.
INTRODUCTION
Coastal dunes protect coastal infrastructure from storm damage, provide natural beauty for recreational users and residents, and provide critical
habitat for threatened and endangered plant and animal species (U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, 2006). Because of their importance, damaged dunes
are repaired and replaced at substantial expense to government and private
agencies. Along much of the eastern United States and in the Great Lakes
region, American beachgrass, Ammophila breviligulata Fern., is planted on
constructed dunes for sand stabilization and to initiate community succession (Miller and Peterson, 2006; Skaradek, Miller, and Hocker, 2003), paralleling the use of Ammophila arenaria in Europe (RodrÃguez-EcheverrÃa,
Freitas, and van der Putten, 2008).
Ammophila breviligulata is also naturally occurring along the northern
Atlantic coast of North America and the Great Lakes (Maun and Baye,
1989; Miller and Peterson, 2006). A. breviligulata acts as a pioneer species
that colonizes bare beach and facilitates dune development and ecosystem
succession toward maritime forest (Maun, 2009). Colonization of dunes
occurs through water dispersal of rhizome fragments, seed, and asexual re-
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