A Role for Assisted Evolution in Designing Native Plant Materials for Domesticated Landscapes

Authors:
Jones, T.A. and T.A. Monaco

Publication Date:
2009

Abstract/Summary:
Developers of native plant propagation materials for wildland restoration may emphasize naturally occurring genetic patterns or, in contrast, the material’s empirical performance in comparative field trials. We contend that both approaches have value and need not be mutually exclusive. Anthropogenic influences have pushed many ecosystems across ecological thresholds, to less desirable states, so that actively managing for “domesticated nature” – nature as modified, either intentionally or inadvertently, by humans – is more realistic and more likely to succeed than recreating the original ecosystem.

Resource Type:
Peer-reviewed Article

Source:
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

Link:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/080028/abstract