The SWSP is working to improve the supply of ecologically-appropriate native seeds for use in restoration projects in New Mexico and Arizona. The SWSP, coordinated by the Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE), is represented by diverse public and private stakeholders - from land managers and natural resource scientists to on-the-ground restoration practitioners and native seed farmers and nurseries. Read the news highlights below to see how our partnership is making strides towards our goals!
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-SAVE THE DATE-
SWSP VIRTUAL STAKEHOLDER MEETING
MARCH 20, 2024
View the program and sign up here!
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Over the last two years, the Southwest Seed Partnership (SWSP) included twelve seed collection crews in nine focal areas. Altogether, these crews made 406 wild seed collections from nearly 100 native plant species! Crews covered eight ecoregions across New Mexico and Arizona. Additionally, they scouted and found many new populations of SWSP target species for collection in future years. We are so grateful for all the hard work of our seed collection crews! Learn more about specific SWSP seed collection efforts below:
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Crews collected seeds for the Tonto and Kaibab National Forests in both 2022 and 2023. Seed collections by these crews will support the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, a landscape level initiative designed to restore fire-adapted landscapes.
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In 2023, we hosted a National Park Service crew that completed seed collections in Bandelier National Monument and Valles Caldera National Preserve. These collections are intended for seed increase production. |
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In 2022, we hosted our first Youth Conservation Corps crew, sponsored by New Mexico’s Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resource Department (EMNRD). This crew spent much of their time engaged in restoration activities, supporting Southwest Seed Partnership (SWSP) seed producers, and collecting seed. |
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In 2023, IAE and the Carroll Petrie Foundation sponsored a seed collection crew to support IAE’s River for Monarchs project, which aims to enhance habitat for monarch butterflies at 16 sites along the Rio Grande river corridor. This crew focused on collecting seed that will go directly to these restoration efforts. |
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Each year, New Mexico BLM’s Plant Conservation and Restoration Program (PCRP) supports an SOS crew based out of the New Mexico State Office in Santa Fe, NM. This crew collects seed from species with high potential for seed production and restoration use throughout northern New Mexico.
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New Mexico BLM’s Plant Conservation and Restoration Program (PCRP) also supports an SOS crew based in Carlsbad, NM. This crew focuses their collection efforts in southern New Mexico. |
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In 2023, we hosted our first US Fish and Wildlife Service Seed Collection Crew. This crew targeted plant species in the High Plains Ecoregion that will eventually benefit the federally endangered lesser prairie-chicken (more on this collaboration below!). |
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Through a collaboration with the US Forest Service and Chicago Botanic Garden, we trained and supported a seed crew based in the Lincoln National Forest. Primarily, this crew made collections that will be used to augment habitat for the endangered Sacramento Mountain Checkerspot Butterfly. |
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The SWSP contract production model allows us to meaningfully increase the number of seeds available for restoration projects while learning the best cultivation techniques for new species and sources for commercial markets. Contract production also reduces the risk for growers when trying to grow new species and sources, since growers receive payment for field establishment and maintenance and not pounds of seed produced. There are currently 25 unique accessions in production, totaling about 13 acres, on 7 different farms (Table 1). We also contract with the Pueblo of Santa Ana Native Plants Nursery and other nurseries to grow plugs for planting into the farm fields.
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1. Yarrow seed production field at Fieldhouse Farms, Chino, AZ
2. Blue grama seed production field at Fieldhouse farms, Chino, AZ
6. Prairie coneflower and little bluestem fields at Elk Mountain Farm, Pueblo of Isleta, NM
7. Seeded blue grama field beginning to establish at
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8. Indian ricegrass harvest drying at Bamert Seed Company, Muleshoe, TX
11. Prairie coneflower planting at Elk Mountain farm, Pueblo of Isleta, NM
12. Squirreltail harvest seed from Fieldhouse Farms, Chino Valley, AZ, laid out to dry
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-STEERING COMMITTEE AND
STRATEGIC PLAN-
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Great news, the SWSP Five Year Strategic Plan was finalized in 2022 by the Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE) and Southwest Seed Partnership (SWSP) Steering Committee! This plan guides the growth and direction of our partnership through 2026 and advances four major goals, each with specific benchmarks, tasks, and a timeline for completion:
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GOAL 1. Assess needs
We just wrapped up our Southwest Regional Seed User Survey! In total, we received over 100 survey responses from diverse seed users across New Mexico and Arizona from organizations involved in habitat restoration, reclamation, and a variety of other project types which require seeding. This survey is crucial to help us understand what native seed markets are needed and to help us set goals for production for the next five years. Please tune into our upcoming virtual SWSP stakeholder meeting, where we will disseminate results from this survey.
GOAL 2. Support producers
In 2024, we will be sitting down with all our seed producers to discuss their experiences growing native seed. Since one of the primary goals of the SWSP is to develop a commercial market for native seed, the SWSP wants to better understand the challenges native seed farmers face and how we can help make their operation more successful. In the next two years, we plan to offer native seed production workshops for new farmers. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops, please reach out to Hollis Moore (hollismoore@appliedeco.org) for more information and to be added to our mailing list.
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Justin Brereton, owner of Fieldhouse Farms, AZ, taking a short break from blue grama harvest |
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Native plant plugs produced by the Pueblo of Santa Ana Native Plant Nursery |
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GOAL 3. Expand capacity
In 2022, IAE expanded our scope by establishing a permanent staff member in Arizona. Our ecologist, Ashlee Wolf, is stationed in Southeast Arizona to increase partnerships in that region. We are also facilitating seed production contracts for new partners including the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. However, new native seed producers and nurseries are needed to adequately increase the supply of native seeds to meet restoration demands in the next several years. A major role of the SWSP is to help remove the barriers to producing and marketing ecologically appropriate native plant materials. To do this, we provide jumpstart contracts, training, technical support to new (and existing) native plant material producers, and potentially grant writing assistance. If you are interested in getting involved with farming native seeds as a crop for the SWSP, please contact Hollis Moore (hollismoore@appliedeco.org) for more information.
GOAL 4. Deliver tools
The arid southwest has many restoration challenges, and there is still a great deal to learn about how to restore native plant communities in drought conditions and when research is lacking. We will continue to engage in collaborative research to address pressing native seed issues. Additionally, we are working to bridge the gap by translating and disseminating research findings and best practices for natural resource managers and restoration practitioners. Most recently, we’ve added a SWSP Seed Cleaning Manual to our website for folks interested in the best methods we’ve found for cleaning SWSP species! To stay up to date on the latest research on seed based restoration, we recommend checking out our partners at Ecorestore and Restorenet. See Research Highlights below for new seed based research underway.
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-WITCHES, HALLUCINATIONS, AND SEED PATHOGENS- A CLOSER LOOK AT ERGOT- |
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During the 2023 field season, Southwest Seed Partnership (SWSP) seed collectors noticed higher than usual ergot prevalence on grass species throughout the Southwest. And in 2021, one of our farm fields even had an outbreak of ergot. These reports had us considering: is it appropriate to collect from a population with ergot present on some individuals, even if you avoid plants with signs of the disease? Can undetectable levels of ergot present in a collection taint the entire collection? Can ergot spread to other collections in a shared storage place? If wild collected seed is potentially infected with ergot, does that mean that the production field will have a higher likelihood of infestation if the environmental conditions favor the pathogen? Or is ergot already present in the soil at seed farms? While it was possible to clean the ergot sclerotium out of the seed lot, we still wondered: Is it safe to use this seed in restoration projects? Further, if this was present in our field, it must also occur in other production fields. Would we know if the seed we are buying came from infected fields? This prompted a deeper dive into the literature to untangle our lingering questions.
Ergot is a fungal pathogen in the genus Claviceps. Claviceps purpurea is the most widespread species in this group, infecting over 400 grass species in temperate regions throughout the world. Ergot makes appearances throughout human history as a crop pathogen, tainting rye, sorghum, millet, and wheat crops and consequently causing outbreaks of human illness (i.e. Salem Witch Trials and St. Anthony’s Fire). Famously, Dr. Albert Hoffman accidentally discovered and dosed himself with an ergot-derived alkaloid called Lysergic acid diethylamide (aka LSD) in 1943. Undoubtedly, this substance has had lasting impacts on art, music, and culture in the 20th century.
Ergot infection initially occurs when grasses are flowering. Ascospores mimic pollination by landing on the stamen and colonizing unpollinated ovaries; replacing the seed or grain with a sclerotium (a mycelial ergot kernel). Flowers are only susceptible to infection for a few days before pollination. After pollination, the flower becomes immune to ergot infection. Floral morphology is an important factor contributing to susceptibility. Species with less exposed stigmas are not as susceptible. Cool and wet springs seem to increase infection across the board by delaying pollination. In these conditions, flowers are open for a longer period and therefore more susceptible. Additionally, cool and wet weather promotes fungal spores. Sclerotium present in the soil releases spores as raindrops fall on them, allowing the spores to find their way to susceptible flowers.
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In 2023 our field crews identified ergot on many grass species throughout New Mexico’s diverse ecoregions. Our crews were careful not to collect seed from ergot-infected plants. Broken sclerotia pieces within a collection bag may transfer ergot alkaloids to uninfected seeds and even outlast the seed in storage. The good news is that ergot propagules can often be cleaned out of seed collections and harvests because the sclerotia is easy to identify and lighter than the seeds, but machines used to separate the sclerotia should be well-cleaned as a precaution. We avoid introducing the pathogen to seed storage/cleaning facilities and production fields.
Farming seeds infected with ergot may adversely impact growers’ fields. The sclerotia overwinters in soils and limits what subsequent species could be grown in that field. Treatment methods for ergot-infected fields include burning after harvest, deeply plowing soils, limiting bare soils and cover cropping fields with non-susceptible crops, managing weeds and volunteer plants susceptible to ergot, and use of fungicides and biocontrols. Seed yields may be impacted by ergot because the infection itself reduces some species’ seed production and heavily contaminated seed lots are not viable. Curiously, some species may reproductively compensate or overcompensate and increase yield. For example, ergot infection in northern California native Spartina reduces seed yield in most cases, but doesn’t affect or even increases yield in other species.
We may not know if we are buying seeds for restoration that came from an infected production field; however, using potentially infected seeds in restoration projects is not expected to negatively impact restoration projects. Some research demonstrates that the cost of ergot infection to plants is low. Plants may tolerate minor infections by mitigating the adverse effects. In some ecological situations, ergot infection demonstrates the possibility of conditional defense mutualism. Ergot may protect plants and their neighbors from grazing mammals that avoid the infected plants. Other related fungus species that produce ergot alkaloids are known to benefit hosts by reducing herbivory and seed predation. If known ergot-infected seed is detected in restoration projects, we advocate for post-seeding monitoring of ergot propagules on the seeds of mature plants to better understand how ergot spreads.
Ergot is a fascinating fungal infection affecting many grass species, with a complex cultural and biological history. The pathogen’s impacts are less dramatic in the native seed industry than in the food industry, but we lack research on the subject and still have a lot to learn. However, we do know that we should be on the lookout for this pathogen when we have a cool, wet spring! The best method to prevent ergot is to avoid collecting seeds from infected plants. Yet, ergot will always play a role in native plant systems, and we continue to explore our questions surrounding ergot management in cleaning, production, and restoration.
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(1) Ergot on Bromus ciliatus, (2) Ergot on Elymus elymoides, (3) Ergot on Sporobolus cryptandrus, (4) Ergot on Setaria leucopila
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Did you know that the SWSP supports diverse research projects to improve our understanding of Southwestern native plant species? If you are affiliated with an accredited research institution and in need of seed for your research, please consider completing the SWSP seed request form and we will do our best to accommodate your needs!
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Tracking Genetic Shifts and Testing Performance of SWSP Seeds
In 2022, SWSP partners launched a collaborative research project to assess how the seed we grow compares to its wildland source and commercial cultivar counterparts. This project includes two major components: 1) measure how the genetic identity of seeds changes through the plant materials cycle (wild collection to seed increase field to restoration) and 2) grow wild-sourced seed and farm-grown seed in greenhouse, germination chamber, and field-based restoration trials to measure plant traits related to restoration success and ecosystem services. This information will give us a better understanding of how to strategically combine wild sources for production, how agricultural practices in native seed production might contribute to restoration outcomes, and how to ensure we are producing seeds that will be resilient in a changing climate. This project is a collaborative effort with The U.S. Geological Survey, Montana State University, New Mexico State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with funding from the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.
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Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama), Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama), and Sporobolus cryptandrus (sand dropseed) production fields that are central to this study.
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SWSP seeds contribute to sand verbena evolution study
By Sierra Jaeger, Lopresti Lab at the University of South Carolina
As a major visual cue to day-active animals, floral pigmentation often mediates biotic interactions including pollination, herbivore defense, and seed dispersal, and plays an important role in floral diversification of many plant groups. A class of pigments called betalains produce red-yellow coloration within a small but diverse group of plants (including beets, cacti, and four o’clocks) which inhabit especially harsh environments such as the Desert Southwest. Betalains are also nitrogenous and thus may be costly to produce, particularly in resource-limited habitats, yet whether they function in pollinator attraction or herbivore defense is largely unknown. Graduate students at the University of South Carolina are investigating the connection between floral betalain pigment intensity and pollination and herbivory within the western North American wildflower genera Abronia and Tripterocalyx (sand verbenas and sand puffs). Sierra Jaeger is exploring whether betalain pigmentation increases diurnal pollination and decreases herbivory in Abronia fragrans, a species with considerable variation in floral pigmentation within and across populations. By growing 30+ populations of A. fragrans in the lab, including several New Mexico populations from seeds provided by the Southwest Seed Partnership, Sierra has documented spatial variation in betalain pigmentation and other floral traits across A. fragrans’ broad range (spanning much of the Great Plains, Rockies, and Desert Southwest).
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Abronia fragrans (sand verbena) with a sphinx moth visitor.
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Abronia fragrans (sand verbena) in flower
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-MORE SEED FOR THE LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN-
by Bronwyn Taylor, Tino Mendietta, Steven Lester (IAE Seed Collectors)
and Gwen Wion (IAE Plant Material Program Manager)
In 2021, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) began a collaboration with the SWSP to develop native plant materials in New Mexico. You might think it odd that an agency focused on wildlife would need plant materials. But because wildlife depends on them for food and habitat, native plants are a vital tool in wildlife conservation efforts. The FWS manages nearly one million acres of public land nationally and also works with other agencies and private landowners to manage land for the benefit of species. As part of this SWSP collaboration, the FWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife identified a need for plant materials that could be used to improve habitat for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken in the High Plains ecoregion of Eastern New Mexico (Photo 1). Previously found across much of the western Great Plains, the Lesser Prairie-Chicken has experienced a 90% reduction in habitat compared to the time of European settlement. Further, Eastern New Mexico is home to a distinct population segment of this species that occurs only in intact shinnery oak and sand sagebrush plant communities. This distinct population segment was recently listed under the Endangered Species Act. The FWS worked with the SWSP to identify three forbs and three grass species that would benefit pollinators and provide forage and habitat structure for the lesser prairie-chicken. We intend to develop local ecotypes of these species for FWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program use in ecological restoration (Table 2).
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We have had opportunities to work with a diverse group of contributors on this project. For example, the New Mexico BLM contributed seed collections to this project. With these collections, we established a seed production field in 2023. Santa Ana Pueblo Native Plant Nursery produced 1,350 Ratibida columnifera (prairie coneflower) plugs (Photo 2) that were planted into this field at Elk Mountain Farm, Pueblo of Isleta, NM (Photos 3).
A BLM/FWS split seed collection crew based out of the Carlsbad Field Office focused on collection targets for both agencies (Photo 4). Early on in the season, it became clear to the field crew that public land for seed collection is very limited in the high plains of eastern New Mexico. In turn, the FWS connected us with the folks at Weaver Ranch, a private ranch managed primarily for the lesser prairie-chicken and other wildlife. This connection opened the door for scouting and collecting seed on 33,000 acres of private land in our target region!
We want to extend a THANK YOU to all of the partners who have banded together to support the lesser prairie-chicken. We are excited to see this collaboration continue to develop in the coming years!
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(1) Male lesser prairie-chicken. Image credit: Kevin Rolle, (2) Prairie coneflower outplanting, (3) Prairie coneflower field at Elk Mountain Farms, (4) FWS seed collection crew: Tino Mendietta, Bronwyn Taylor, and Steven Lester
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-TransLATINg Plant Names:
Dimorphocarpa wislizeni-
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In each newsletter, we dive into a species’ binomial nomenclature and share information often contained in scientific names. Here we highlight Dimorphocarpa wislizeni, a plant with a name as unique as its appearance.
Also commonly called spectacle pod or touristplant, both the scientific and common names of this mustard refer to its distinctive seed pods. The pods are two conjoined carpels held perpendicular to the stem, almost like a pair of glasses that warrants the name spectacle pod, or resembling the binoculars of a sightseer, thus called touristplant. The genus name Dimorphocarpa is a long-form description of the pods: Di- for two, morph for form or shape, and karpos for fruit, referring to the double carpels.
The species name wislizeni adds an homage to the medical doctor, explorer, and botanist Friederich Adolph Wislizenus. Wislizenus, born in Germany in 1810, emigrated to the US as a young man and traveled in expeditions across the western states, notably to Santa Fe right as the Mexican-American War broke out. Wislizenus was a contemporary and friend of botanist George Engelmann, who received and curated Wislizenus’s plant collection from the expedition and likely named this flower in his honor.
Spectacle pod is a southwestern annual herb that thrives in dry, sandy areas like desert flats and dunes. Though often diminutive and overlooked, Dimorphocarpa wislizeni has a unique seed shape that’s more than worth the double take.
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Image credits: Gregory Gust, via SEINet
References:
- FNA 2010, MacDougall 1973, Heil et al. 2013, Allred and Ivey 2012, Jepson eFlora (Al-Shehbaz 2017); Editors: L. Crumbacher 2011, A. Hazelton 2017; from SEINet Field Guide, on-line; accessed 01/2024.
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Schlueter, Robert E. (1938), "Frederick Adolphus Wislizenus (1810-1889), Pioneer Meteorologist, Physician and Natural Scientist", Isis, 28 (1): 38–52, doi:10.1086/347302, JSTOR 225804, S2CID 72434545
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THANK YOU PARTNER FUNDERS! |
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The work of the SWSP would not be possible without funding support from the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service Southwest Region 3, National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, New Mexico Department of Transportation, Native Plant Society of New Mexico, US Geological Survey, Carroll Petrie Foundation, the Institute for Applied Ecology, New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources, and other amazing partners. |
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Background image adapted from: USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913; Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. Illustrated flora of the northern states and Canada. Vol. 1: 174.; Germany, Sturms Flora von Deutschland (1900-1906) - Achillea millefolium; and Felger, R.S., S. Rutman, and J. Malusa. 2014. Ajo Peak to Tinajas Altas: A flora of southwestern Arizona. Part 6. Poaceae – grass family. Phytoneuron 2014-35: 1–139.
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