Source: KANSAS STATE UNIV submitted to NRP
GENETIC AND PHENOTYPIC VARIATION OF A DOMINANT FORAGE GRASS ACROSS GREAT PLAINS AND MODELING PREDICTED RESPONSE TO CLIMATE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1025316
Grant No.
2021-67013-33796
Cumulative Award Amt.
$500,000.00
Proposal No.
2020-03665
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 15, 2021
Project End Date
Jan 14, 2026
Grant Year
2021
Program Code
[A1152]- Physiology of Agricultural Plants
Recipient Organization
KANSAS STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MANHATTAN,KS 66506
Performing Department
Biology
Non Technical Summary
Central grasslands account for $6 billion in agricultural production in KS annually and are dominated by the forage grass big bluestem, Andropogon gerardii. The Midwest has recently experienced drought and future changes in precipitation will impact productivity and sustainability of rangelands. Our goal is to characterize phenotypic and genetic variation of A. gerardii in drought tolerance traits and biomass yield across the range, then model changes in genotype and phenotype with increased temperature and drought. Our research platform includes new rainout shelters complemented by a characterization of phenotypes, genotypes, and transcriptomes from geographically diverse populations across the Great Plains. Species distribution models will be developed to predict changes in genotype and phenotype under current and future scenarios. This renewed focus enhances our previous reciprocal garden work based on a narrow cross-section of the Great Plains (IL to KS), providing results across broader climate gradients. Objectives are to: 1) characterize phenotypes and genotypes from 44 geographically diverse populations across the Great Plains climate gradients, 2) characterize gene expression differences from a) phenotypically divergent mesic and xeric ecotypes in response to experimental rainfall drought in long-term reciprocal garden and b) in greenhouse drought manipulations using populations from across the geographic range, 3) link transcriptome expression and genotype differences to biomass, ecophysiological responses of divergent ecotypes to altered rainfall and 4) model current and future genotypes and phenotypes to temperature and precipitation using modified species distribution models. This research will provide information on response to drought in ecotypes of geographically diverse big bluestem and identify candidate genes associated with drought tolerant traits. We will use these data as input to models to predict how these vital rangelands may change with predicted higher temperatures and drought. These studies will allow us to recommend climate-matched ecotypes for restoration in changing climates. The research directly aligns with the goals of the USDA NIFA Foundational program-Physiology, as it will identify genetic and physiological mechanisms that contribute to drought response in the Great Plains.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
60%
Applied
40%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
20307991020100%
Knowledge Area
203 - Plant Biological Efficiency and Abiotic Stresses Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
0799 - Rangelands and grasslands, general;

Field Of Science
1020 - Physiology;
Goals / Objectives
Grasslands of the central US are a critical national natural resource, accounting for $8 billion annually in agricultural production in Kansas alone (NASS 2018). These grasslands are dominated by one of the most palatable forage grasses, Big Bluestem or Andropogon gerardii (Dwyer 1961, Boe et al. 2004), which comprises up to 70-80% of aboveground biomass (Rogler 1944). In this proposal, we would investigate the genetic and phenotypic responses of A. gerardii to drought across the Great Plains and construct a predictive spatial model for forecasting future responses to drought. Owing to the foundational role of A. gerardii in Midwestern agriculture, this work is critical to understanding the basis of a significant portion of this region's agricultural production. Our research thus addresses priority areas by examining processes in grasslands that determine productivity and resilience to drought. Andropogon gerardii grows across a strong precipitation gradient ranging from 400 to 1200 mm of annual rainfall spanning the Great Plains. Changes in amount and timing of precipitation are critical abiotic stressors determining the future productivity and sustainability of these grasslands. Indeed, western US grasslands regularly experience drought (NOAA 2012) and severe "megadroughts" are expected to become increasingly common (Cook et al. 2010). Understanding how ecotypic and genetic variation of a dominant forage grass will respond to increased temperature and drought is essential to preserving rangeland productivity and informing prairie conservation.Our overall goal is to understand and predict changes in genotype and phenotype of A. gerardii under anticipated changes in temperature and drought. This proposal builds on and extends our USDA-funded research that uses reciprocal gardens arranged along a rainfall gradient extending from Carbondale, Illinois to Colby, KS. This research platform has enabled us to uncover ecological, physiological, and genetic responses of A. gerardii to drought within realistic grassland communities (Olson et al. 2013, Caudle et al 2014, Mendola et al. 2016, Johnson et al. 2015, Galliart et al. 2019). This proposal extends the research to multiple populations of A. gerardii across the Great Plains, and uses phenotypic and genetic data from these sites as input for a novel predictive spatial model. New to our approach are expanded research platforms that include rainout shelters over reciprocal gardens as a model for experimental drought; complemented by a characterization of phenotypes, genotypes, and transcriptomes from 44 geographically diverse populations across the range of A. gerardii in the Great Plains (CO to MI, OK to ND); and drought simulations under controlled greenhouse conditions. Taken together, the expanded research platform would generalize our previous work on the effects of drought on agricultural production to the entirety of the Great Plains .To accomplish our goal, we address the following objectives: Objective 1: Characterize phenotypes and genotypes from 44 geographically diverse populations across the Great Plains rainfall and temperature gradient (including range edges). This is a complement to our well-characterized ecotypes from reciprocal gardens from a narrower cross-section from KS to IL. Objective 2: Characterize differences in gene expression to drought in two sets of experiments: a) from phenotypically divergent dry and wet ecotypes in response to experimental rainfall drought manipulation in the field using long-term reciprocal gardens; and b) in greenhouse drought manipulations using populations from across the geographic range, including populations from climate extremes. Objective 3: Integrate transcriptome expression and genotypes for biomass, and ecophysiological responses of divergent ecotypes to altered rainfall. We will then use these genetic and phenotypic variables as input to a novel phenotypic-genotypic distribution model. Objective 4: Develop a novel, joint phenotypic-genotypic distribution model to predict current and future distribution of genotypes and phenotypes. The model will provide critical information for range managers for anticipating the effects of future growing conditions on grassland function.
Project Methods
The research takes multiple approaches comprising our expanded reciprocal garden platform, expansion of populations to include tens of spatially distributed populations, and greenhouse studies. Our approach complements the already established reciprocal common garden with a new focus: Objective 1) to characterize physiological and morphological phenotypes and to sequence genotypes using GBS from 44 geographically diverse populations across the Great Plains' rainfall and temperature gradient, Objective 2) to characterize gene expression differences using transcriptome profiling and RNAseq combined with physiological measures in response to drought by experimental rainfall manipulation using field rainout shelters over the reciprocal gardens and controlled greenhouse studies, Objective 3) to integrate transcriptome expression and genotype differences to biomass and physiological responses of divergent ecotypes to rainfall and finally Objective 4) to model current and future distribution of genotypes and phenotypes with response to temperature and precipitation and develop a predictive tool to assist land managers in matching genotypes and phenotypes to future climates. To do this, we will develop a multi-response, hierarchical, Bayesian phenotype-genotype-occurrence distribution model that can be used to: 1) characterize current relationships between climate/soil and phenotype/genotype; and 2) predict the phenotype and genotype of populations that would best match anticipated conditions at sites in the future. Taken together, this new focus extends and enhances our previous work to include geographically distributed populations, new field rainfall manipulations, robust results of genetic variation, transcriptome, phenotype and modeling.

Progress 01/15/24 to 01/14/25

Outputs
Target Audience:In this third year, in terms of efforts to reach target audience, the project benefitted from excellent graduate student Jack Systma (first gen), Brooke Vogt (who is working on modeling) as well as an extremely motivated undergraduate Helen Winters (first gen). This provided learning and training opportunities for these students, involving field work, sample collection, data analyses, and science dissemination and preparation of manuscripts. The graduate student arrived in Aug 2021, and has been one of my most productive graduate students. Jack is joined by Brooke Vogt who is helping with the modeling efforts. He and coauthors also presented this work as poster/talks at the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America and ASPB meetings in summer 2024 and internationally at the International Botanical Congress in Madrid as well as several regional conferences (Kansas Academy of Science) and stakeholder natural resources and grassland meetings. Jack won best oraltalk award at the Kansas Academy of Sciences meeting. Our lab has also been involved with science communication of ecology and conservation of grasslands at the local public Flints Hills Discovery Center and the Sunset Zoo. Our lab group had a hands-on activity on saving grasslands for the general public at the Science Fest in Manhattan KS in April 2024, reaching several thousand people. The undergraduate student Helen Winters, who joined the lab in fall 2022, has blossomed in terms of her research and continues currently. She presented posters for the Undergraduate Research Forum and was selected to present to lawmakers in Topeka. and was a coauthor on several posters and talks. For summer 2024, she received a prestigious ASPB summer fellowship SURF. In 2024, she was selected as Goldwater awardee from KSU. All students have really been exceptional in their accomplishments in a short amount of time. In total, the combined number of talks or posters presented from this research group totaled 19 in 2024. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Several graduate undergraduate students worked on this project. Jack Sytsma, the main PhD student on the project has attended several national meetings, including the Ecological Society of America and Botanical Society of America. He has also attended regional meetings such as the KS Academy of Sciences, as well as more applied conferences such as the Natural Areas and Natural Resources Conferences. He also attended several worskhsops such as Gene Expression and structural equation modeling and niche modeling workshops. Helen Winters, A BS/MS student on the project has attended and presented at national meetings. She also received the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship (only one from KS) and the nationally competitive ASPB SURF undergraduate summer fellowship. We have also hosted several other undergraduates in the lab, Alison Rickers who is a freshman in the Cats Community Research Experience for Incoming Freshmen. She is continuing in the spring with an Arts and Sciences fellowship. Finally senior Ryann Patterson took research credit doing a project on genome size and is continuing in the spring with an Arts and Sciences fellowship How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results from the project have been disseminated broadly to the science community at national meetings as well as applied stakeholders such as natural Areas and natural Resources Conferences. We have also presented at the Manhattan SciFest where we several hundred citizens and kids took part in an activity on saving prairies. Sytsma also disseminated information on grasses to kids and adults at the Flint Hills Discovery Center and Sunset Zoo. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue with mainly objective 4.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The main focus of the last year has been developing the phenotypic-genotypic distribution model (Obj 4) and completing analyses and writing for the transcriptome work (obj 3). Objective 4 involved close collaboration with Co-PI Adam Smith from the Missouri Botanical Garden. This work is ongoing.

Publications

  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2024 Citation: Ecological Genomics of Grasslands in Changing Climates. Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Sara Baer, David Gibson, Trevor Hefley,Eli Hartung, Helen Winters, and Loretta Johnson. Invited Chapter Submitted in Grasslands by Routledge Publishing
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Estimation of Flint Hills Tallgrass Prairie Productivity and Fuel Loads: A Model-Based Synthesis and Extrapolation of Experimental Data R.B. McKane, J.J. Halama, B. Barnhart, A. Brookes, K. Djang, S. Chokshi, P. Pettus, B. Groskinsky, G. Grier, A. Hawkins, L. Avey, D. Watson, J. Prentice, D. Goodin, J. Blair, J. Briggs, L. Johnson, A. Skibbe, M. Stieglitz, F. Pan. 2024. Landscape Ecology.
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Zhe Ren1, 2, Sara G. Baer3, Loretta C. Johnson4, Matthew B. Galliart5, David J. Gibson2 2024. Effects of manipulated rainfall and intraspecific variation within dominant species on community assembly: insights from a long-term grassland restoration experiment. Ecology and Evolution, Accepted
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Michael Stemkovski1, Joey R. Bernhardt2, Benjamin Blonder3, John Bradford4, Kyra Clark-Wolf5, Laura E. Dee6, Margaret E. K. Evans7, Virginia Iglesias6, Loretta Johnson8, Abigail J. Lynch9, Sparkle Malone10, Brooke B. Osborne11, Melissa A. Pastore12, Michael Paterson13, Malin L. Pinsky14, Christine R. Rollinson15, Oliver Selmoni16, Katie Suding6, Jason Venkiteswaran17, Anthony Walker18, John Williams19, Claire Zarakas20, Peter B. Adler1 Ecological acclimation: a framework to integrate fast and slow responses to climate change Ecology Letters. In revision.
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: The effects of climate disequilibrium on ecosystem function: a theoretical framework Michael Stemkovski, Malin Pinsky, Kelvyn Bladen, Abigail J. Lynch, Christine R. Rollinson, Oliver Selmoni, John B. Bradford, Loretta C. Johnson, John. W. Williams, Peter Adler. Submitted. PNAS. In review
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Diversity-biomass relationships are dependent upon location and dominant species ecotypes across a precipitation gradient. David J. Gibson, David F. Barfknecht, Sara G. Bear, Matthew Galliart, Zhe Ren, Jack Sytsma, Loretta Johnson. Oecologia. In Review
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Intraspecific trait variation of Andropogon gerardi across environmental gradients of the US: Identifying climate-adapted populations for restoration. Jack Sytsma, Helen Winters, Matthew Galliart, Erica Newmann, Ari Jumpponen, Sonny Lee, Adam Smith, Loretta Johnson. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, CA. Talk. August 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: How Andropogon gerardi Varies Across its Range: Characterizing Potential Climate Adaptations for Prairie Conservation. Helen Winters, Jack Sytsma, Ari Jumpponen, Sonny Lee, Adam Smith, Erica Newman, Loretta Johnson. Natural Areas Conference, poster presentation. (October 2024).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Prairie Grass Ecotypes Across the Rainfall Gradient of the US Great Plains Shows Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation. Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Trevor Heffley, Sara G. Baer, Nora Bishop, Helen Winters, Eli Hartung, David Gibson, Adam B. Smith, Loretta Johnson. International Botanical Congress. Madrid. Talk. July 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Prairie Grass Across the Rainfall Gradient of the US Great Plains Shows Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation. Loretta Johnson, Jack Sytsma, Kori Howe, Matthew Galliart, Sara Baer, David Gibson, and David Barfknecht. American Society of Plant Biologists Meeting. Honolulu Talk. June 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: How Andropogon gerardi Varies Across its Range: Characterizing Potential Climate Adaptations for Prairie Conservation. Helen Winters, Jack Sytsma, Ari Jumpponen, Sonny Lee, Adam Smith, Erica Newman, Loretta Johnson. Botanical Society of American Annual Conference. Grand Rapids, MI. Poster. July 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: The Role of Temperature and Precipitation on Big Bluestem Plant Form and Function. Helen Winters, Jack Sytsma, Helen Winters, Loretta Johnson. Kansas Natural Resource Conference, oral presentation. February 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Local adaptation and trait variation of the dominant prairie grass in reciprocal gardens across the rainfall gradient of the Midwest and in response to drought. Jack Sytsma, Helen Winters, Nora Bishop, Eli Hartung, Matthew Galliart, Trevor Heffley Sara G. Baer, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Kansas Natural Resource Conference, oral presentation. February 2024.


Progress 01/15/23 to 01/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:In this third year, in terms of efforts to reach target audience, the project benefitted from excellent graduate student Jack Systma (first gen) as well as an extremely motivated undergraduate Helen Winters (first gen). This provided learning and training opportunities for these two students, involving field work, sample collection, data analyses, and science dissemination and preparation of two manuscripts. The graduate student arrived in Aug 2021,and has been one of my most productive graduate students. He and coauthors also presented this work as poster/talks at the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America meetings in summer 2023 and internationally at the British Ecological Society as well as several regional conferences (Midwest Ecology and Evolution, Kansas Academy of Science). Jack won best oral talk award at the Kansas Academy of Sciences meeting. He has also been involved with science communication of ecology and conservation at the local public Flints Hills Discovery Center and the Sunset Zoo. Our lab group had a hands-on activity on saving grasslands for the general public at the Science Fest in Manhattan KS in April 2023, reaching several thousand people. The undergraduate student Helen Winters, who joined the lab in fall 2022, has blossomed in terms of her research and continues currently. She presented posters for the Undergraduate Research Forum and was a coauthor on several posters and talks. She will take a topics course on her research this semester 2023. She received a KSU Arts and Sciences small grant research award to support her research. For summer 2023, she received a prestigious Garden Club of America conservation scholarship as well as an REU. In fall 2023, she was selected as one of four Goldwater finalists from KSU. Both students have really been exceptional in their accomplishments in a short amount of time. In total, the combined number of talks or posters presented from this research totaled 14 in 2023. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student arrived in August 2021 to start on the project and has "hit the ground running". The graduate student Sytsma and an undergraduate (Winters, also first gen) have engaged heavily on the project, by doing field work, collecting and analyzing data, and preparing three manuscripts and a book for publication based on reciprocal garden ecotype plots and broad spatial field sampling of phenotypes and genotypes from grasslands in 26 sites from 24 states spanning CO to NC, TX to ND. The undergraduate continued this research for credit in spring 2023 and was just awarded a Kansas State University Arts and Sciences Fellowship. She was awarded a prestigious REU summer fellowship and a nationally competitive Garden Club of America Conservation Scholarship. She was selected to be one (out of four) to go forward from this university to be considered for the Goldwater Scholarship. The undergrad presented posters at the university research forum for undergraduates. The graduate student also presented locally at the Graduate Research, Midwest Ecology Conference, and nationally at the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America meetings, and internationally at the British Ecological Society meeting. In total, the lab presented 14 posters or talks in 2023, several award winning. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results so far have been disseminated to a wide and diverse audience, including scientific conferences and scholarly publications, to the general public through science communication activities, including the community-based Flint Hills Discovery Center, and even to KS state legislators! The Graduate student Sytsma and Undergraduate Winters presented for several regional and national natural resources and prairie conferences with opportunities for interactions with stakeholders. One of the highlights was a day long activity on prairie conservation for the general public at the Manhattan Science Fest, in April 2023 that attracted several thousand people. Undergraduate Winters presented a display of prairie grasses for the University community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue with analyzing genetic data and start the modeling part of the project.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project has made considerable progress this year on several objectives. Most time this during 2023 season has been spent on characterizing response of wet, mesic, and dry ecotypes of Andropogon gerardii big bluestem in reciprocal transplant gardens (Objective 2) over the rainfall gradient of the Great Plains (from western KS to Illinois) and in response to experimental drought using rainout shelters. This experimental platform, now in existence for a decade, has proven to be extremely valuable in showing how different ecotypes of big bluestem, growing in replicated ecological community plots, respond over the long term to precipitation changes, especially the severe drought of 2012, and as ecological succession proceeds. The field measurements made on the gardens in 2022 also document that through all the weather extremes, the phenomenon of "home-site-advantage, where the local ecotype does best in its home site relative to non-local ecotypes, still persists and has, in fact, grown stronger. Most studies of these types run for at most a few years, making our results that much more valuable. We have two manuscripts in submission stages that describe these results and have participated in an Ecological Acclimation workshop with at least 2 papers in preparation. We have also collected and extracted RNA from leaf samples on these plots for gene expression studies (Objective 3) to examine how wet and dry ecotypes respond across the rainfall gradient in terms of which genes are expressed differently, especially those genes conferring drought tolerance. These data will be input for modeling studies to predict how populations from varying source climates will perform under different rainfall and temperature conditions (Objective 4). In 2023, the students spearheaded an effort to characterize A. gerardii populations in the center of their distribution, where they dominate, but also on the margins of their range, where they are already exposed to extreme conditions that might occur in the future climate. The graduate and undergraduate students visited 26 prairies in 24 states, from CO to NC, and TX to ND to characterize the full spectrum of phenotypic variation, collected phenotype information and samples for genomic analyses. This rich data set, unprecedented in scope, will serve as input for the modeling studies in collaboration with Adam Smith and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Publications

  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ecological Genomics of Grasslands in Changing Climates. Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Sara Baer, David Gibson, Trevor Hefley,Eli Hartung, Helen Winters, and Loretta Johnson. Invited Chapter Submitted in Grasslands by Routledge Publishing
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Estimation of Flint Hills Tallgrass Prairie Productivity and Fuel Loads: A Model-Based Synthesis and Extrapolation of Experimental Data R.B. McKane, J.J. Halama, B. Barnhart, A. Brookes, K. Djang, S. Chokshi, P. Pettus, B. Groskinsky, G. Grier, A. Hawkins, L. Avey, D. Watson, J. Prentice, D. Goodin, J. Blair, J. Briggs, L. Johnson, A. Skibbe, M. Stieglitz, F. Pan
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ecological acclimation: A framework to study lagged responses to environmental change Michael Stemkovski, Joey R. Bernhardt, Benjamin Blonder, John Bradford, Kyra Clark-Wolf, Laura E. Dee, Margaret E. K. Evans, Virginia Iglesias, Loretta Johnson, Abigail J. Lynch, Sparkle Malone, Brooke B. Osborne, Melissa A. Pastore12, Michael Paterson13, Malin L. Pinsky14, Christine R. Rollinson, Oliver Selmoni, Katie Suding, Jason Venkiteswaran, Anthony Walker, John Williams, Claire Zarakas, Peter B. Adler Ecology Letters
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation of the Dominant Prairie Grass in Reciprocal Gardens Across the Rainfall Gradient of the Great Plains Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Kori Howe, Sara Baer, David Gibson, Trevor Hefley, Hannah Tetreault, Eli Hartung, and Loretta Johnson. Journal: Nature Ecology and Evolution
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Zhe Ren, David J. Gibson, Sara G. Baer, Loretta C. Johnson, Laurel R. Wilson, and Matthew B. Galliart Phylogenetic and functional diversity are preserved while richness declines in grasslands restored across a rainfall gradient in the US Great Plains. Journal of Applied Vegetation Science.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Matthew Galliart, Bradley Olson, Miranda Gray, Jake Alsdurf, Mary Knapp, Nora M. Bello, Sara G. Baer, Brian R. Maricle, Jesse Poland, Loretta Johnson. Bringing genomics outdoors: Ecological and transcriptional differences of wet and dry ecotypes of dominant prairie grass Andropogon gerardii across the Great Plains climate gradient.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Prairie Grass Across the Rainfall Gradient of the US Great Plains Shows Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation. Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Eli Hartung, Sara G. Baer, Adam Smith, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, oral presentation. Dec. 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Dominant Prairie Grass in Reciprocal Gardens Across the Rainfall Gradient of the Great Plains: Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation and Community Change. Jack Sytsma, Helen Winters, Nora Bishop, Eli Hartung, Matthew Galliart, Sara G. Baer, David Gibson, David Barfneckt, Loretta Johnson. Kansas Natural Resource Conference, oral presentation. Feb. 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Local adaptation and trait variation of the dominant prairie grass in reciprocal gardens across the rainfall gradient of the Midwest and in response to drought. Jack Sytsma, Helen Winters, Nora Bishop, Eli Hartung, Matthew Galliart, Trevor Heffley Sara G. Baer, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Ecological Society of America Annual Conference, oral presentation. Aug. 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Dominant Prairie Grass in Reciprocal Gardens Across the Rainfall Gradient of the Great Plains: Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation and Community Change. Jack Sytsma, Kori Howe, Sara G. Baer, Matthew Galliart, Eli Hartung, David Barfneckt, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Botanical Society of America Annual Conference, poster presentation. July 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Local adaptation and trait variation of the dominant prairie grass in reciprocal gardens across the rainfall gradient of the Midwest and in response to drought. Jack Sytsma, Helen Winters, Nora Bishop, Eli Hartung, Matthew Galliart, Trevor Heffley Sara G. Baer, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Kansas Academy of Science Conference, oral presentation. April 2023. Awarded First Place in PhD Student Oral Presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Decadal Patterns of Local Adaptation and Trait Variation of the Dominant Prairie Grass in Across the Midwest Rainfall Gradient. Jack Sytsma, Helen Winters, Nora Bishop, Eli Hartung, Matthew Galliart, Trevor Heffley Sara G. Baer, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference, Louisville, KY, oral presentation. April. 2023.


Progress 01/15/22 to 01/14/23

Outputs
Target Audience:In this second year, in terms of efforts to reach target audience, the project benefitted from excellent graduate student Jack Systma (first gen) as well as an extremely motivated undergraduate Helen Winters (first gen). This provided learning and training opportunities for these two students, involving field work, sample collection, data analyses, and science dissemination and preparation of two manuscripts. The graduate student arrived in Aug 2021, but hit the ground running and has been one of my most productive graduate students. The graduate student collected and analyzed so much data that he was able to present a poster at the Graduate Research Forum and got selected (one of ten from KSU) to present his research for legislators at the Research and the Capitol day held in spring 2022 at the State Capitol in Topeka. He and coauthors also presented this work as a poster at the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America meetings in summer 2022 as well as several regional conferences (Midwest Ecology and Evolution, Kansas Academy of Science). He has also been involved with science communication of ecology and conservation at the local public Flints Hills Discovery Center and the Sunset Zoo. The undergraduate student Helen Winters, a freshman who just joined the lab in fall 2022, has blossomed in terms of her research. She began work in the fall and continues through the spring 2023. She presented a poster for the Undergraduate Research Forum and was a coauthor on several posters. She will take a topics course on her research this semester 2023. She received a KSU Arts and Sciences small grant research award to support her research. Both students have really been exceptional in their accomplishments in a short amount of time. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student arrived in August 2021 to start on the project and has "hit the ground running". The graduate student and an undergraduate (also first gen) have engaged heavily on the project, by doing field work, collecting and analyzing data, and preparing two manuscripts for publication based on reciprocal garden ecotype plots. The undergraduate continued this research for credit in fall 2022 and was just awarded a Kansas State University Arts and Sciences Fellowship and will continue the project in 2023.The undergrad presented posters at the university research forum for undergraduates. The graduate student also presented locally at the Graduate Research, and nationally at the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results so far have been disseminated to a wide and diverse audience, including scientific conferences and scholarly publications, to the general public through science communication activities, and even to KS state legislators! The Graduate student has submitted abstracts to attend and present for several regional and national natural resources and prairie conferences with opportunities for interactions with stakeholders. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project has made considerable progress this year on several objectives. Most time this during 2022 season has been spent on characterizing response of wet, mesic, and dry ecotypes of Andropogon gerardii big bluestem in reciprocal transplant gardens (Objective 2) over the rainfall gradient of the Great Plains (from western KS to Illinois) and in response to experimental drought using rainout shelters. This experimental platform, now in existence for a decade, has proven to be extremely valuable in showing how different ecotypes of big bluestem, growing in replicated ecological community plots, respond over the long term to precipitation changes, especially the severe drought of 2012, and as ecological succession proceeds. The field measurements made on the gardens in 2021 and 2022 also document that through all the weather extremes, the phenomenon of "home-site-advantage, where the local ecotype does best in its home site relative to non-local ecotypes, still persists and has, in fact, grown stronger. Most studies of these types run for at most a few years, making our results that much more valuable. We have two manuscripts in submission stages that describe these results. We have also collected samples on these plots for gene expression studies (Objective 3) to examine how wet and dry ecotypes respond across the rainfall gradient in terms of which genes are expressed differently, especially those genes conferring drought tolerance. These data will be input for modeling studies to predict how populations from varying source climates will perform under different rainfall and temperature conditions (Objective 4).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2022 Citation: Zhe Ren, David J. Gibson, Sara G. Baer, Loretta C. Johnson, Laurel R. Wilson, and Matthew B. Galliart Phylogenetic and functional diversity are preserved while richness declines in grasslands restored across a rainfall gradient in the US Great Plains. Journal of Applied Vegetation Science. In press.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: David J. Gibson, David F. Barfknecht, Sara G. Bear, Matthew Galliart, Kori Howe, Zhe Ren, Jack Sytsma, Loretta Johnson. Diversity-biomass relationships are dependent upon location and dominant species ecotypes across a precipitation gradient. Submitted to Journal of Ecology.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Matthew Galliart1, Bradley Olson1 Miranda Gray1, Jake Alsdurf1, Mary Knapp3, Nora M. Bello4, Sara G. Baer5, Brian R. Maricle2, Jesse Poland6, Loretta Johnson Bringing genomics outdoors: Ecological and transcriptional differences of wet and dry ecotypes of dominant prairie grass Andropogon gerardii across the Great Plains climate gradient.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Kori Howe, Sara Baer, David Gibson, Trevor Hefley, Hannah Tetreault, Eli Hartung, and Loretta Johnson. Dominant Prairie Grass in Reciprocal Gardens Across the Rainfall Gradient of the Great Plains: Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation. Journal: Global Change Biology.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Local Adaptation of Big Bluestem Grass Across the Rainfall Gradient of the Midwest. Helen Winters (Cat Community), Jack Sytsma, Nora Bishop, Eli Hartung, Matthew Galliart, Sara G. Baer, David Gibson, David Barfneckt, Loretta Johnson. KSU Undergraduate Research Showcase, poster presentation. Nov. 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Dominant Prairie Grass in Reciprocal Gardens Across the Rainfall Gradient of the Great Plains: Decadal Evidence of Local Adaptation and Community Change. Jack Sytsma, Kori Howe, Sara G. Baer, Matthew Galliart, Eli Hartung, David Barfneckt, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Sigma Xi International Forum of Research Excellence, poster presentation, best presentation in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Nov. 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Decadal Evidence of Adaptation of a Dominant Prairie Grass Across the Rainfall Gradient. Jack Sytsma, Kori Howe, Sara G. Baer, Matthew Galliart, Eli Hartung, David Barfneckt, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. K-SACNAS Research Forum, Kansas State University, oral presentation. Oct. 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Dominant Prairie Grass Cross-Transplanted Across the Midwest: Ecotype Response to Experimental Drought and Impact on the Surrounding Community. Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Sara G. Baer, Eli Hartung, David Gibson, David Barfknecht, Loretta Johnson. Kansas State University Research and the State Forum, poster presentation. Oct. 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Diversity-Biomass Relationships are Dependent Upon Location and Dominant Species Ecotype. David J. Gibson, David Barfknecht, Sara G. Baer, Matthew Galliart, Kori Howe, Zhe Ren, Jack Sytsma, Loretta Johnson. Ecological Society of America Annual Conference, oral presentation. Aug. 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Local Adaptation of the Dominant Prairie Grass in Reciprocal Gardens Across the Rainfall Gradient of the US Central Grasslands: Decadal Patterns. Kori Howe, Jack Sytsma, Matthew Galliart, Sara G. Baer, Eli Hartung, David Gibson, David Barfknecht, Loretta Johnson. Botanical Society of America Annual Conference, poster presentation. July 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Dominant Prairie Grass Cross-Transplanted Across the Midwest Rainfall Gradient: Evidence of Local Adaptation over a Decade Jack Sytsma, Kori Howe, Sara G. Baer, Matthew Galliart, Eli Hartung, David Barfneckt, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Kansas Academy of Science Annual Conference, oral presentation, April 2022, Sterling KS
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Local Adaptation of the Dominant Prairie Grass in Reciprocal Gardens Across the Rainfall Gradient of the US Central Grasslands: Decadal Patterns Jack Sytsma, Kori Howe, Sara G. Baer, Matthew Galliart, Eli Hartung, David Barfneckt, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. K-State Graduate Research, Arts, and Discovery Forum, poster, Mar 2022, selected as one of five top poster presentations
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Dominant Prairie Grass Cross-Transplanted Across the Midwest Rainfall Gradient: Response to Drought Jack Sytsma, Kori Howe, Sara G. Baer, Matthew Galliart, Eli Hartung, David Barfneckt, David Gibson, Loretta Johnson. Graduate Research Summit, Topeka KS, poster, Mar. 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Saving the prairie from drought, one grass at a time, Jack Sytsma, Loretta Johnson, Three Minute Thesis Competition at Kansas State University, oral presentation Feb. 2022, selected to present at final competition, Mar. 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Linking ecology and genomics in a dominant prairie grass across the Great Plains climate gradient, Seminar at Utah State, Spring, 2022, Loretta Johnson


Progress 01/15/21 to 01/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience:This first year, in terms of efforts to reach target audience, the project recruited an excellent graduate student Jack Systma as well as an extremely motived undergraduate Kori Howe. This provided learning and training opportunities for these two students, involving field work, sample collection, data analyses, and science dissemination. The graduate student arrived only in Aug, but hit the ground running. The graduate student collected and analyzed so much data that he was able to present a poster at the Graduate Research Forum and got selected (one of ten from KSU) to present his research for legislators at the Research and the Capitol day to be held in spring 2022 at the State Capitol. He and coauthors also presented this work as a poster at the British Ecological Society meeting in Dec 2021. He has also been involved with science communication of ecology and conservation at the local public Flints Hills Discovery Center. The undergraduate student Kori Howe has blossomed in terms of her research. She began work in the summer and continues through the fall2021 and spring 2022. She presented a poster for the Undergraduate Research Forum and was a coauthor on the British Ecological Society poster. She took a topics course on her research this semester and applied for several small grants. She received a Kansas Academy of Sciences small grant research award. Both students have really been exceptional in their accomplishments in a short amount of time. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student arrived in August 2021 to start on the project. The graduate student and an undergraduate (also first gen) have engaged heavily on the project, by doing field work, collecting and analyzing data, based on reciprocal garden ecotype plots. The undergraduate continued this research for credit in fall 2021.The undergrad presented posters at the university and international level. The graduate student also presented at the Graduate Research forum and at the British Ecological Society. Graduate student was selected to be one of ten to present research to legislators for the Research and the State Capitol day. The undergraduate was just awarded a Kansas Academy of Science Small Research Grant for her studies. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results so far have been disseminated to a wide and diverse audience, including scientific conferences and scholarly publications, to the general public through science communication activities, and even to KS state legislators! What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Most of our efforts will focus on more detailed characterization of how gene expression varies among ecotypes and in response to rainfallin the field and in greenhouse studies. We will also use these genetic and ecological data asinput into species distribution modeling and how these populations may adjust to changes in climate, or need to migrate, or go locally extinct.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project has made considerable progressthis year on several objectives. We are completing ecological and genetic characterization of widespread geographic populations that vary in temperature and precipitation conditions (Objective 1). Most timethis growing season has been spent on characterizing response of wet, mesic, and dry ecotypes of Andropogon gerardii big bluestem in reciprocal transplant gardens (Objective 2) over the rainfall gradient of the Great Plains (from western KS to Illinois). This experimental platform, now in existence for a decade, has proven to be extremely valuable in showing how different ecotypesof big bluestem, growing in replicated ecologicalcommunity plots, respond over the long term to precipitation changes, especially the severe drought of 2012, and how resilent these grasses are to year to year changes in rainfall. The field measurements made on the gardensin 2021 also document that through all the weather extremes, the phenomenon of "home-site-advantage, where the local ecotype does best in its home site relative to non-local ecotypes, still persists and has in fact, grown stronger. Most studies of these types run for at most a few years, making our results that much more valuable. We have also in progress a gene expression study (Objective 3) to examine how wet and dry ecotypes respond across the rainfall gradient in terms of which genes are expressed differently. We have begun modeling studies to predict how populations from varying source climates will perform under different rainfall and temperature conditions (Objective 4).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Reciprocal transplant gardens as gold standard to detect local adaptation in grassland species: New opportunities moving into the 21st century 2021. Authors: Loretta Johnson, Matthew Galliart, Jake Alsdurf, Brian R. Maricle, Sara G. Baer, Nora M. Bello, David J. Gibson, Adam B. Smith. Journal of Ecology. May 2021.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Linking ecology to genomics of an ecologically-dominant prairie grass across the US Great Plains rainfall gradient Matthew Galliart, Bradley Olson and Loretta Johnson, Miranda Gray. Submitted to Molecular Ecology.