Pitcher plant bogs form one of the most distinctive plant communities of the East Gulf Coastal Plain (EGCP). These seepage communities occupy shallow slopes, interfluvial flats, and headwaters ecotones. We recorded all taxa in 74 bogs in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. All bogs sampled occurred within a matrix of natural longleaf and/or slash pine communities, had an undisturbed herbaceous layer, and had been subject to recurring prescribed burns. We documented 318 taxa in 137 genera and 65 families. Forty-four taxa are woody shrubs, trees, and vines, 247 are herbaceous plants, of which 9 are ferns and clubmosses and 18 are carnivorous plants. The most speciose families are: Asteraceae - 43, Poaceae - 40, Cyperaceae - 37, Xyridaceae - 15, Orchidaceae - 14. The most speciose genera are Rhynchospora - 22, Xyris - 15, Dichanthelium - 10, Sarracenia - 7, and Andropogon - 7. Conspicuous in their absence were the Fabaceae with only one species and aliens which were entirely absent. Seventeen taxa are endemic to the EGCP, plus nine are near-endemics. Individual bogs supported 65-137 taxa. Taxon frequency ranged from 1-72 bogs; the top ten most frequent taxa ranged from 69-72 bogs. Analysis of the data suggest that pitcher plant bogs of the EGCP are composed of three types of vascular plants: 1) wetland generalists, 2) seepage bog specialists, and 3) EGCP endemics. We sought natural grouping of sites by numerical clustering and found that 4 to 8 groups appeared as distinct clusters that might be recognized as natural communities.
1 Herbarium, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; 2 Dept. of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
143 • David L. Cutherell
Restoring the Northern Longleaf Pine Ecosystem: South Quay Sandhills Natural Area Preserve
The longleaf pine ecosystem reaches its northern limit in southeast Virginia, where it is represented by only a few surviving sites. One of these is South Quay, which has some of the oldest longleaf pines in the state and has been the main seed source for restoration efforts in Virginia. An initial plant inventory at this newly preserved site has found many species endemic to the sandhills region but rare or absent elsewhere in Virginia, such as Stipulicida setacea, Cuthbertia graminea, Vaccinium crassifolium, and Zenobia pulverulenta. The preserve also includes swamp forest along the Blackwater River and heath barrens that support a large diversity of ericaceous shrubs. A complete survey is in progress to document the flora of this key remnant of the northern longleaf ecosystem.
Dept of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
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144 • Richard A. Matthews1, Lytton J. Musselman2, W.C. Taylor, Peter W. Schafran2
Isoetes snowii , a New Diploid Quillwort From the Southeastern United States
Rock outcrops of the southeastern United States have several endemic species of Isoetes. Here we describe a new diploid (2n = 22) from the coastal plain region of Georgia. The species is named Isoetes snowii in honor of Frankie Snow, the curator of the Broxton Rocks Nature Preserve, where it is found.
1 Bainbridge State College, Early County Center, Blakely, GA; 2 Dept of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
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145 • John M. Herr, Jr., James T. Morris
Cross sections of rhizomes from extant Spartina alterniflora from Georgetown, SC and fossil specimens from Plum Island, MA were made initially with a hydro-microtome. The traditional paraffin embedding technique and rotary microtome were used later to produce better sections of the fossil specimens, since they required immediate fixation (ethanol: glacial acetic acid, 3:1) after they were collected from sediment at a depth of 100 cm. Structurally, the extant rhizomes and 500 year old fossil specimens are markedly similar. Both rhizomes have a large pith cavity and a ring of cortical air spaces each initially separated from adjacent spaces by a partition 2-3 cell layers thick that with determinate diametric growth of the rhizome stretch and become thin. In rhizomes of the largest diameter, some of the partitions are reduced to cell remnants. Two series of collateral bundles occupy the solid cortex between the pith cavity and the cortical air spaces. In fossil rhizomes, lignin is sufficiently altered so only rarely to provide a positive test with phloroglucin. The active phloem is not preserved in fossil rhizomes. Yet, nuclei, often without nucleoli, are preserved in most of the parenchymatous tissues.
Dept of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
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146 • Ashley B. Morris
It Takes a Village: Building a Network of Primarily Undergradute Institutions to Address Large-Scale Phylogeographic Problems
Phylogeography as a field has surpassed the quarter-century mark, but many challenges remain. Studies involving geographically widespread species often suffer from a lack of sampling resolution, molecular resolution, or both. It will truly take a village to adequately address phylogeographic hypotheses under such scenarios. Here, I propose the development of a network of primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) to achieve this goal. PUIs offer a unique opportunity to integrate undergraduate research training, education, and collaborative research on a large geographic scale. Consider a species such as American beech, which is distributed from Nova Scotia to Mexico. An extensive network of PUIs would allow each institution involved to sample intensively on a local scale, genotype or sequence all invidividuals sampled in-house, and contribute to a much larger collective data set for further analysis. Resulting publications become a true, collaborative effort, with students learning the real process of science by doing the real process of science. Not only will education benefit, but science will also benefit from the improved sampling of such large projects. Furthermore, multiple sympatric species can be easily sampled and processed simultaneously, because each institution will have relatively limited responsibility within the context of the broader project. Such an ambitious project calls for careful planning and consideration of best practices for research design and project dissemination, the framework for which will be discussed in this talk.
Dept of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
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147 • Kevin S. Burgess1, John A. Barone2, Robert B. Futrell3
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