Jennifer Ison
Jennifer Ison at one of seed collection sites
I am in a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Chicago working with both the Chicago Botanic Garden and the MSBP. My research is focused on how to collect seeds from natural populations while retaining all genetic diversity of that population in the collection. If collectors do not consider the genetic makeup of the seed collection there can be negative consequences for the conservation effort. While many studies have looked at seed collection in a spatial framework, these studies have examined only the consequences of random and non-random sampling techniques. No study has examined the consequences of non-random sampling techniques over the course of a flowering/fruiting season. Typically, seed collectors visit a site only once, at the height of seed maturity. This method of seed collection is not a truly random sample of the population since plants that set seed early or late are not represented. I am studying how the timing and number of seed collections affects the genetic diversity sampled from a population and the quality of seeds collected. I am also interested in how the timing of seed collecting relates to seed germination success.
Echinacea angustifolia in a natural population. This is one of the species I use to study the timing of seed harvesting.
For my research I collected seeds from a population at three distinct times over the course of a fruiting season. I first looked at quality of the seeds based on seed collection timing and found that early and late collected seeds were more likely to be inviable and thus lower in quality. I am now using quantitative and molecular genetic methods to determine if each seed collection represents the overall genetic diversity in the source population. I will also set up a seed germination experiment based on seed collecting times under the supervision of MSBP’s Dr. Peter Toorop.
I enjoy working with MSBP and hope that my research will provide seed collectors with information on how best to collect seeds from a population. I have already presented my initial findings at two conferences in 2007 and am currently preparing a manuscript for publication. I will present the first of the molecular genetic findings at a conference in late 2008.