Nicole on the hunt for Antirrhinum vexillocalyculatum near Carson Falls, Marin County, California

 

Background on Nicole’s Project

Nicole is using the wiry snapdragon (Antirrhinum vexillocalyculatum, Plantaginaceae) as the model system for her Master’s Thesis. The wiry snapdragon is a serpentine tolerator, meaning that it can establish and reproduce both on and off serpentine soils.  In California, serpentine plants make up a large portion of the rare and endangered species, and serpentine endemics (species only found on serpentine soils) are more common where precipitation is greater. This pattern suggests that in areas with greater precipitation, competition off serpentine soils may be more intense, leading to stronger tradeoffs between adaptations to serpentine soils (abiotic stresses) and non-serpentine soils (strong competition for resources). Nicole is testing this idea with a serpentine tolerator taxa, because such taxa may be ‘on the road to speciation’ between serpentine and non-serpentine populations. Hence, Nicole reasoned that serpentine and non-serpentine populations of the wiry snapdragon from regions of higher precipitation should have greater genetic divergence and divergence in adaptive characters (e.g., flowering time) than populations from regions of low precipitation. To test this idea, Nicole collected seeds and leaf tissue from 5 pairs of serpentine/non-serpentine populations arrayed along a precipitation gradient in California. She is growing those seed in the greenhouse to look for differences in flowering time in a common garden, and using population genetic analyses to examine population differentiation. Below are some photos of her field and greenhouse work.

Antirrhinum vexillocalyculatum

 

Nicole prepares to work on a population in the northern foothills of Mt Tam – check out the homemade tool belt!

 

Flagging and measuring plants.

 

Quadrats for measuring plant density and cover.

 

Collecting seed.

 

At another site, getting some field help from Shiso the Dog.

 

Taking a well-deserved lunch break on Mt Tam – not too shabby!!

 

Testing germination protocols using a related horticultural snapdragon species.

 

The real deal! Hundreds of pots getting ready to sprout Antirrhinum vexillocalyculatum seedlings!

 

Off to the field again…dragon hunting (!!) in the Sunol Regional Wilderness in the East Bay.