Published Work
Alicyn R. Gitlin, Brian L. Cardall, Steven M. Shuster, Gerard J. Allan, and Thomas G. Whitham
GENETIC DIVERSITY OF COTTONWOOD (POPULUS SP.) BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER ESTABLISHMENT OF TAMARIX
Arizona Republic Council, Volume 22, Number 3 (December 2009)
Note: At the Arizona Riparian Council Spring 2009 Meeting, it was made known that the newsletter occasionally highlights the works of graduate students. Brian Cardall and Alicyn Gitlin are the first since that meeting to commit to this endeavor. We hope to do justice to Brian's intent and his work. Below we present a small subset of the research Brian and Alicyn discussed; he was working on so many projects that they won't all fit here!
There is evidence that Tamarix alters floodplain conditions in ways that impact native riparian trees. Tamarix inhibits cottonwood (Populus spp.) germination by altering soil chemistry through an interaction with the introduced leafhopper Opsius stactogalus, one of the most common arthropods on Tamarix (Wiesenborn 2005, Siemion 2008). In certain climatic conditions, Tamarix increases surface salinity, which can also decrease cottonwood germination (Shafroth et al. 1995, Rowland et al. 2004, Ladenburger et al. 2006, Ulery and Rosel 2006, Siemion 2008). Once established, Tamarix persists during dry periods that READ MORE
D. D. Cole, K. E. Mock, B. L. Cardall, and T. A. Crowl (2008)
Morphological and genetic structuring in the Utah Lake sucker complex
Molecular Ecology 17(24), 5189-5204.
Abstract: Population decline in the federally endangered June sucker (Chasmistes liorus), a lakesucker unique to Utah Lake, Utah, has been attributed in part to hybridization with the more widespread Utah sucker (Catostomus ardens). As a group, suckers in Utah Lake exhibit considerable external morphological variation. Meristic and morphological ambiguities, presumably the result of hybridization, create a continuum of intermediate forms between Chasmistes and Catostomus extremes and prevent definitive identification to species. Here we describe and evaluate the morphological and genetic variation in suckers in Utah Lake by comparing a morphological analysis with amplified fragment length polymorphism and microsatellite analyses. Suckers were morphologically differentiated using mouth characters associated with different feeding strategies: planktivory (June sucker) and benthivory (Utah sucker). Although we found no genetic evidence for a deep divergence between June and Utah morphs, significant, but slight population structuring accompanied the substantial morphological variation. Bayesian model-based genetic clustering analyses detected two sucker populations in Utah Lake; however, these clusters were not strongly concordant with morphological groupings or between marker systems. The suckers in Utah Lake present an interesting dilemma regarding conservation: should one conserve (breed and stock) a subset of the morphotypic variation in the Utah Lake sucker complex, focusing on the endangered June sucker morphotype, or should one conserve both June sucker and Utah sucker morphotypes in this complex, possibly maximizing evolutionary potential? We explore this question in the context of current genetic and morphological variation in the Utah Lake sucker complex as well as historical information on this complex and other lakesuckers.
B. L. Cardall, L. S. Bjerregaard, and K. E. Mock (2007)
Microsatellite markers for the June sucker (Chasmistes liorus mictus), Utah sucker (Catostomus ardens), and five other catostomid fishes of western North America.
Molecular Ecology Notes 7(3) , 457–460.
Abstract: We developed and optimized five new microsatellite markers for the genetic management of the endangered June sucker. We report the cross-amplification of these markers, and an additional seven microsatellites previously developed for the suckers of the Klamath Basin, in seven catostomid species of western North America. No linkage disequilibrium was detected between pairs of loci. Since the majority of these loci exhibited conserved priming sites, these markers may be useful for landscape scale studies of multiple sucker lineages
K. E. Mock, R. P. Evans, M. Crawford, B. L. Cardall, S. U. Janecke, and M. P. Miller (2006)
Rangewide molecular structuring in the
Molecular Ecology 15(8), 2223-2238.
B. L. Cardall, E. D. Brodie III, E. D. Brodie Jr., and C. T. Hanifin (2004)
Tetrodotoxin in the skin secretions of the rough-skin newt (Taricha granulosa) and regeneration after secretion.
Abstract: Rough-skin newts (Taricha granulosa) released tetrodotoxin (TTX) in their skin secretions in response to mild electric stimulation. This release resulted in a large (21 % to almost 90 % of the pre-stimulation levels) reduction in the amount of TTX present in the dorsal skin of individual newts. Over the next nine months newts significantly regenerated the levels of TTX in their skin. These data, in combination with previously published results, are consistent with the hypothesis that these newts produce their own TTX.