About this Project

Land managers often face the need to plan and implement revegetation or restoration work for disturbed or degraded habitats. Often there is relatively little background information to provide context about a focal species or the greater plant community. A common concern, particularly for larger-scale restoration, centers on how to make decisions about the selection of wild source material to be used. Managers are seeking information about the importance of local genetic adaptation in restoration work, and how to maximize the chances for successful restoration and minimize the possibility of any deleterious effects.

Many managers have questions about the kinds of dynamic processes in play in the genetics of populations, how common (and how fine scale) local adaptation may be, how it may vary among and between species, and the potential deleterious or positive effects inherent in different approaches for selecting source material. They wonder how definitive and well studied some of these issues may be. They want to make the best choice, but wonder what really matters, and the severity of any risks. Decisions about these issues may affect production processes and the economics of producing native plant materials and implementing restoration projects.

Most biologists and land managers are not genetic experts and have limited time to devote to in-depth study of the issues. Nevertheless they would like to develop a basic background in the pertinent literature, and understand the issues that need to be balanced in making decisions. Examining different approaches and the potential consequences of different choices will help us make sensible decisions for their particular situation.

The Center for Plant Conservation has grappled with these same issues. We decided that conducting a literature review to explore some of the key issues, and making that bibliography available with a short summary of the contents of each work would be helpful. The result of that effort is the bibliography below.

We asked the assistance of a number of population geneticists to review and help in this effort. They were generous with their time and we appreciate their investment. Click here to view the list of advisers who participated in this effort. This group continues work to help articulate areas where more information is needed, examine different approaches for different kinds of restoration challenges, and help develop some practical recommendations for managers.

This bibliography would not have been possible without the dedication and excellent research skills of Andrea Kramer, who conducted a great deal of the review as a part of her graduate studies, and the help of Kim Preston who assisted as well during an internship with the Center for Plant Conservation. We thank both of these student scientists. Lori Calcaterra, our volunteer special information librarian, also provided advice and assistance in the literature searches.

Finally, the Center for Plant Conservation wishes to thank Congress for funding the Native Plant Materials Development Program, supporting development of appropriate native plant materials for rehabilitation of our wildlands. We also thank The Bureau of Land Management for their support for this project.

Scope of the Literature Review and Intended Use

While initially intended to present available literature on the topic of ecotypes, the scope of the bibliography was expanded as a result of discussions with numerous authorities on the subject (see report for list of meeting attendees). The current bibliography now presents literature on topics broadly relevant to genetic considerations in ecological restoration. Inclusion of literature was not limited to peer-reviewed scientific articles, but also includes grey literature, including book chapters, papers from meetings and symposia, and reports. While no references were knowingly excluded, it must be noted that this is not an exhaustive account of all literature that could potentially fall under the larger heading of ‘genetic considerations in ecological restoration’. It is hoped, however, that the material presented will provide a basis for understanding and allow further exploration under a number of relevant topics on this subject.

Methodology and Presentation

Along with input from experts in the field, numerous bibliographic search engines were used to compile the current references, including Web of Science, JSTOR, FirstSearch, Google Scholar, as well as Google and searches of grey literature databases and inquiries of agencies and partners. Broad topics and subtopics that were searched under are outlined below. Abstracts and, in many cases, the entire text and references of available documents were scanned by the compiler to ensure inclusion of all citations under appropriate topic and subtopic headings. When available, author abstracts or summaries are presented with references. In cases when this was unavailable, a summary was written specifically for this project, based on the contents of the article. It can be noted that some topics and subtopics contain fewer references than others; this is not intentional, but due to a lack of available published or unpublished literature on the specific subject. Given the increasing awareness of, and research on, these topics, it is anticipated that the bibliography will be continuously updated as information becomes available. If you can recommend additional references, or have any suggestions for changes within the current bibliography, comments will be welcomed. Contact us at cpc@mobot.org.