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COURSE INFO PROVIDER: SWSPCP Webinar
COURSE TITLE: Potential climate change impacts on native seeds relative to Phragmites

INSTRUCTORS Tatiana Lobato
Karin Kettenring

COURSE DESCRIPTION Potential climate change impacts on native seeds relative to Phragmites

Presented by Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães and Dr. Karin Kettenring

Webinar Abstract:
The response of seed germination to future climate change scenarios is an important consideration as climate change will likely exacerbate high mortality rates of seeds and seedlings in the field. Evaluating the response of seed germination under various temperature and water regimes will allow for better predictability in restoration outcomes. Great Salt Lake (GSL) wetlands are a critical resource in the Intermountain West and are globally significant for millions of migratory birds that depend on this habitat. Unfortunately, GSL wetlands are threatened by increasing demands on water upstream for development and agriculture, and the proliferation of invasive species as Phragmites that replaces habitat-forming native plants such as bulrushes. Native bulrushes serve as critical food and nesting sources for migratory birds and are target species for GSL wetland restoration. The study aim was to provide a tool to better predict seed germination of Phragmites and native bulrush species from different regions under current and future climate scenarios. We evaluated seed germination response of Phragmites and three species of native bulrushes to four temperature regimes in growth chambers: 23/10° C (present May), 28/14° C (present June), 33/18° C (present July and also June 2070), and 36/20° C (July 2070), and five water potentials (0, -0.15, -0.3, -0.6, and -1.2 MPa). We compared germination response under these controlled conditions to seeds sown in GSL wetlands, where we monitored seedling emergence during June and July 2018. We found some interesting interactions of temperature and water potential: (1) under the optimal germination temperature for Phragmites, water potential did not matter, (2) bulrush seed germination varied substantially more among the different temperature regimes than did Phragmites, (3) germination lag time was affected more by the water potential change than by temperature for all species, and (4) field germination rates (range 10 - 24%) were lower than germination under simulated climate change conditions in growth chambers. Our findings can support models to organize, interpret, and forecast wetland restoration outcomes, and also it can improve restoration strategies applied in GSL wetlands. This study was part of the SWS Wetland Ambassador fellowship program during summer 2018.

Bio, Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães:
Agronomist Engineer, with a MS in Plant Sciences. Tatiana is currently a PhD candidate in Biological Sciences at the Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico. She carried out her SWS Wetland Ambassador (WA) fellowship at Utah State University, U.S.A. in 2018, under the mentorship of Dr. Karin Kettenring. The title of her WA project was "Potential climate change impacts on native seeds relative to invasive Phragmites: implications for Great Salt Lake wetland restoration". Her research interests are broad, but they focus on biodiversity, ecology, genetics, and conservation of freshwater ecosystems. She has been working on large-scale spatial patterns of aquatic plants, combining community and population approaches. She has conducted her graduate research mainly on central Mexico highland sites, where temporary wetlands are part of the landscape and are geographically isolated.

Bio, Dr. Karin Kettenring:
Karin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Watershed Sciences at Utah State University and the head of the Wetland Ecology Lab. She earned her BA in Biology from Oberlin College. She received her PhD in applied plant sciences from the University of Minnesota where she worked with Dr. Susan Galatowitsch. Her PhD research focused on restoration of sedges in prairie pothole wetlands. She was also a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Dennis Whigham at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center where she studied the invasion of Phragmites australis in Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands. She has been a faculty member at USU since 2008. Her current research efforts focus on (1) the ecology, genetics, and management of wetland invaders, (2) seed ecology of native wetlands plants, with implications for wetland revegetation, and (3) restoration genetics for sustainable, functioning wetland restorations.

Credit Points: 0.06

SYLLABUS/TOPICAL OUTLINE Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães and Dr. Kettenring will present the results of Tatiana's Wetland Ambassador project that tested the effects of temperature and water potential upon germination of seeds from native and invasive emergent vegetation of the Great Salt Lake (GSL) wetlands. Native bulrushes, in particular, provide critical food and nesting sources for migratory birds and are target species for GSL wetland restoration. The findings of this study may support models to organize, interpret, and forecast wetland restoration outcomes, and improve strategies for GSL wetland restoration, especially in the context of potential climate change scenarios.

COURSE CONTACT

Louis Mantini
9225 CR49, Live Oak, FL 32060
lfm@srwmd.org
P: 386.647.3144
F:

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