Fraser, Billie

Title:
The Role of Soil Properties in Determining Native Forb Species Plant
Performance in Common Gardens

Abstract:
There is evidence that plants are adapted to their local
native environments and climate, mainly temperature and
precipitation. Habitat restoration projects depend on this
information because it informs which plant populations
will be most suitable for a given restoration site. A
common garden approach can help determine species’
adaptation to climate by moving selected species from
their native environment to a common location.
Differences in plant performance across common garden
sites are usually attributed to climate variation. However,
soil differences across common garden sites may also
change plant performance, but data on this phenomenon
are lacking. The objective of our project is to conduct a
two-phase experiment, using 12 forb species native to the
Colorado Plateau region, to understand how soil
properties across two common garden locations differ in
physical or biological properties, and to determine if
those differences contribute to plant performance. We
will examine the relationships between soil factors and
the growth of the selected forb species. If there are
differences in the soils from the two common garden
locations, and if forb species respond to those
differences, it suggests that beyond climate variation, soil
properties in common garden locations should be taken
into account when examining patterns of local adaptation.
This project will inform a larger scale common garden
experiment currently in progress.