PARENT SESSION
Tuesday, August 8, 5:00-6:30 pm
Poster Session 10 - Genetics, evolution, and paleoecology
Exhibit Hall, Ballroom Level, Cook Convention Center
Atmospheric and environmental conditions affecting long-distance pollen-mediated gene flow in Agrostis stolonifera.
Van de Water, Peter*,1, Watrud, Lidia1, Lee, E. Henry1, Burdick, Connie1, King, George2, 1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR2 Dynamac Corporation, Corvallis, OR
ABSTRACT- Understanding atmospheric conditions resulting in pollen dispersal has grown in recent years with increased field-testing of genetically modified (GM) crop plants. An atmospheric model (HYSPLIT4; www.arl.noaa.gov ) was used to characterize wind trajectories starting at 10 m and 100 m above GM pollen source fields located within a 4,452 ha control district established to contain GM gene pollen north of Madras, OR. The presence of the glyphosate herbicide resistant GM-gene in seedling progeny of downwind sentinel and resident creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) plants after the first season of growth (2003) provided unequivocal evidence for pollen-mediated gene flow. Calculated mean wind direction corresponded well with observed long-distance pollen mediated gene flow. Sentinel A. stolonifera plants, positive for the GM gene, were located up to 21.2 km from the control district boundary whereas GM-gene positive resident plants (both A. stolonifera and A. gigantea) were located at 8.3 km and 13.7 km, respectfully. This study characterized the atmospheric conditions that permitted long-distance delivery of viable pollen and highlighted the role of local topographic features on pollen dissemination. Analysis and modeling methods we describe to characterize atmospheric conditions will be useful to seed producers and to regulators to help identify relative risks of long-distance pollen dispersal from wind pollinated crops in various types of geographic locations and habitats.
Key words: Long-distance pollen dispersal, modelling, gene-flow