Adopt-A-Species Assignment 4

TO: Save the Colorado Butterfly Plant Foundation

FROM: Rosa Lovely, Plant Researcher I Plantiful Beauty

SUBJECT: The Economic Service of the Colorado Butterfly Plant


To Whom It May Concern:

I was writing to propose that the research that I wish to do involving the Colorado Butterfly Plant is worthy of a grant from your great organization. I'm sure you know that economic services are basically "services" that a species provides for another species. I write to you concerning the economic service that the Colorado Butterfly Plant provides for moths. In fact, moths and the CO Butterfly Plant both do a service for each other. It is believed that the primary source of pollination for this lovely plant is the moth. They pollinate at and after dusk (2). The CO Butterfly Plant, in turn, is a primary source of nutrients for the moth; the moth comes to plant for nutrients and pollinates the flower as a byproduct (1). What I would like to research is the impact the loss of the CO Butterfly Plant is going to have on the moths in the immediate area.

To measure the impact that the loss of the CO Butterfly Plant on moths, I would first collect a large sample of natural plants and moths from the area that the CO Butterfly Plant is found in and transplant them into a large, controlled laboratory environment, trying to duplicate the natural habitat as closely as possible. For the experiment, there would be two groups; one with the CO Butterfly Plant, the control group, and one without the plant, the experimental group. I would release a large amount of moths into each environment, around 100 for each group. The number of moths in each environment would be assessed every 7 days. I would continue this process for two months to fully study the impact the loss of the Colorado Butterfly Plant would have on the moth population.

I hypothesize that in the absence of the Colorado Butterfly Plant, the moth population would quickly decline. This would be due to the lack of nutrients available to the moths in the environment without the Colorado Butterfly Plant. There are a few things that could contribute to the lack of concrete conclusions, however.

First of all, the Colorado Butterfly Plant is not the only flowering plant that the moths can harvest nutrients from in their natural habitat. Secondly, due to the characteristics of the moths' feeding style, most flowers adapt to an alternate way of pollinating (1). Although an alternate form of pollination has not been observed for the Colorado Butterfly Plant, it does not rule out the possibility (2).

However, I still believe that the measure of dependence of the moths on the Colorado Butterfly Plant is an important way to show the value of this beautiful plant. Showing that another species at least somewhat relies on the Colorado Butterfly Plant will boost the efforts for saving the plant. This, of course, would be valuable to everyone that is working toward the reestablishment of this beautiful plant.

Thank you for your consideration,
Rosa Lovely
Plant Researcher I

References:

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Copyright 2007. Accessed 7 May 2007.

Nature Serve Explorer. Gaura neomexicana ssp. coloradensis. Copyright 2006. Accessed 7 May 2007.

Adopt-a-Species Assignment 3

TO: Mr. Miboss,
Director
Plantiful Beauty, where we solve your decorating frustrations with natural beauty!

FROM: Rosa Lovely

SUBJECT: Regarding the Colorado Butterfly Plant

Dear Sir:

Hope your vacation in Acapulco with your family went well. It rained here the entire time you were gone. I was writing in regard to your question about the lucrativeness of the Colorado Butterfly Plant. What I discovered was astounding!

Here is the formal classification of the plant:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Anthophyta
Class: Dicotyledoneae
Order: Myrtales
Family: Onagraceae
Genus: Guara
Species: neomexicana var. coloradensis

The Colorado Butterfly plant is a quite lovely flowering herb that is mainly suffering from over-grazing, accidental herbicide, and urbanization that is depleting the plant's natural habitat. However, the plant has a few very interesting adaptations that helps it survive.

First, the plant is very hardy. The seeds sprout in practically all environments, as long as they are kept moderately moist. Tests have shown that the seeds sprout even after lying dormant for nine months! This is significant because this means that the plants can grow in very different environments.

Second, this particular species of Guara neomexicana has smaller seed pods than its cousin species that grows in the New Mexico area. This, I assume, either has to do with temperature and season length differences (i.e. it gets colder much earlier in Wyoming than it does in New Mexico, making the turnover for seeds much shorter in the coloradensis variation of neomexicana) or with the way that they are pollinated; the Wyoming version is pollinated mostly by moths at dusk and after dark.

Third, the plants rosettes have adapted very specifically to the chance of grazing. While the adult plant stands very tall (sometimes more than three feet!), the rosettes (a step in the seedling's life cycle) grow very low to the ground, which helps prevent grazing. This helps the plant keep thriving, even if the fields where they grow are subject to frequent grazing.

I really believe that the best bet for PB to make money from the Colorado Butterfly Plant is to market it in our Perennial Flowering Plant line. Because of the first adaptation I mentioned, it is very easy to grow away from it's original habitat as long as it is kept moderately moist. If we were to selectively breed these plants to further enhance this trait of hardiness it could become even easier to grow outside of it's natural habitat.

To selectively breed it, first, we would need to determine which plants were the most hardy - the oldest plants, the ones that have lasted the longest despite the challenges that this plant faces in it's habitat. Then, these plants would need to be cultivated together for a while in a greenhouse to produce offspring that have this trait. Because of the relative simplicity of the plants reproduction cycle, it is not terribly difficult to cross-pollinate them.

The basic idea of cross-pollination is this: by crossing two plants that are relatively hardy, the chances of creating a plant that is even more hardy is better than just crossing two plants at random. Cross-pollination can be done in a lab; I do not know the exact details of the process, but I have written to Iman Evergreen, our friend at "All About Plants," to see what light he can shed on the subject. I expect to hear from him later this week. I'm sure he will tell us everything we need to learn about cross-pollinating to begin our experiment.

Some consequences could arise, however, if we interfere with the production of this plant. Even if we were to make the plant more hardy, probably by "domesticating" it as a houseplant, these traits could be lost. After all, a plant in an avid (or even semi-interested) gardener's house will likely not face a very strenuous environment. Then, for whatever reason, if this new, more domestic species of the plant was introduced back into the wild or neglected in the home, it would very likely not be able to survive.

Luckily, however, there aren't many ethical problems with manipulating plants genetically. The only problem we may have is since the plant is endangered, there may be some resistance to using the natural population to begin our testing. This has a flip-side, though, because the general population will be attracted to growing an "endangered species" in their home.

Thank you,
Rosa Lovely
Plant Researcher I

Reference:

Nature Serve Explorer. Gaura neomexicana ssp. coloradensis. copyright 2006. Accessed 22 April 2007.

Adopt-A-Species Assignment 2

TO: Society for the Conservation of the Colorado Butterfly Plant

FROM: Iman Evergreen, host of "All about Plants" and endangered species consultant

SUBJECT: How DNA fingerprinting helps conservation


DNA fingerprinting has already proved useful in many aspects, from seeing justice served to finding cures for deadly diseases. It is only logical to wonder if it will also help with the conservation of endangered species. There are actually a few different ways in which DNA fingerprinting will help your organization to conserve the dwindling population of the Colorado Butterfly Plant, but I'd like to focus mainly on using it to diversify the gene pool.

If DNA is collected from a variety of the remaining plants and "fingerprinted," it is possible to find enough variations in the genetic material to help this plant survive. For example, there may be a specific genetic sequence that affects survival; some plants may be more capable of withstanding herbicides (one of the reasons for the disappearance of this plant) because of their genetics due to natural selection. Because there are no ethical issues to hamper the selected crossing of plants, offspring could be produced with this specific gene.

This is similar to a study done by Mike Russello at the American Museum of Natural History with the St. Vincent parrot, a bird on the verge of extinction. The DNA of different St. Vincent parrot's was studied to find which birds' DNA best complement each other, and therefore give them a better chance of survival. I believe this type of "genetic selection" could also arm the Colorado Butterfly Plant to fight global warming by making it more hardy.

This procedure can easily be modeled for the Colorado Butterfly Plant:

• DNA would need to be taken from many of the plants, especially those that are older and those that are dying. DNA can be taken from the leaves of a plant, so a leaf would be needed from each plant.
  
• The DNA could be analyzed to discover if there is a particular difference in the sequence between the older plants and those that are dying; this may show the genetic vulnerabilities of the plants that are not surviving and the strengths of those that are.
  
• Finally, after this study is conducted and a genetic sequence is determined, hardy plants can be cross-pollinated to form resistant offspring (similar to Mendel cross-pollinating pea plants to produce certain characteristics).
  
• Hopefully, this DNA study could also unveil ways that the Colorado Butterfly Plant could be useful medicinally, as many other herbs are, for extra incentive to fund it's conservation.

Unfortunately, no kind of DNA fingerprinting or forced crossing to preserve choice genes will help protect the Colorado Butterfly Plant from urban development, haying, mowing, overgrazing, or land cultivation, the major reasons why this precious plant is disappearing. To combat this, measures need to be taken to protect the areas that the plant grows in, particularly the critical habitat area in Wyoming assigned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I believe your organization can make this happen.

Best wishes,
Iman Evergreen

[source: CPC National Collection Plant Profile - CO Butterfly Plant]

TO: Society for the Genetic Modification of the Colorado Butterfly Plant

FROM: Iman Evergreen, host of "All about Plants" and endangered species consultant

SUBJECT: Genetic Modification of the Colorado Butterfly Plant


Genetic modification seems to be a miracle cure for most things; it has helped improve the quality and shelf life of many crop plants and is also being studied as a way to prevent life-threatening diseases in humans. It is also very probable that it could help save the dwindling population of Gaura neomexicana var. coloradensis, the perennial herb called the Colorado Butterfly Plant.

The most useful type of genetic modification in this case would be one that helps the plant survive non-selective herbicide spraying and also improves the plant's water retention. Making the Colorado Butterfly plant more resistant to herbicides yields obvious results - the plant would not be harmed by accidental contact with herbicides (like runoff or spray that has been wind blown) as well as direct spraying with non-selective herbicides (maybe to get rid of other plants in close proximity). Helping the plant retain water more effectively also yields obvious results - since the habitat of this plant, mostly wet, marshy areas, are being cultivated, urbanized, etc., this could enable the Colorado Butterfly Plant to live in drier areas. This may also help it survive droughts or habitat dry-up due to global warming.

To do this, a gene (or genetic sequence) that has been shown to improve these qualities would need to be obtained. More than one may need to be obtained if no one particular gene has been shown to improve both qualities; this may be the best option currently. For the first quality, herbicide resistance, over 80% of the soybeans grown in the United States have been genetically modified for this exact purpose (Belk 211 P2). The gene that is used to do this in soybeans could very well prove useful in the Colorado Butterfly Plant. The second quality, improved water retention, could prove a little more tricky. It is well known that cacti are genetically wired to have impeccable water retention. This gene could be found in cacti and used in the Colorado Butterfly Plant. However, a study would be needed to discover which kind of cactus would be most compatible with the genetics of the Colorado Butterfly Plant.

There are two popular ways in which this genetic modification can be done. Both options, of course, will need to be further studied before a final decision is made, so I will present them both here:

1. Using the Ti Plasmid

• Make a culture of young plant cells from the Colorado Butterfly Plant.
  
• Isolate the Ti Plasmid from the bacterium cytoplasm of the bacteria called A. tumefaciens.
• Cut the plasmid with a restriction enzyme.
• Use the same restriction enzyme to cut the gene of the soybean or cactus that is going to be put into the Colorado Butterfly Plant.
• Allow the gene to attach itself to the plasmid (because of the "sticky ends" caused by using the same restriction enzyme on both the plasmid and the desired gene).
• Expose the altered plasmids to young plants cells in the culture.

2. Using the "gene gun"

• Make a culture of young plant cells from the Colorado Butterfly Plant.
• Use the gene gun to "shoot" the gene of the soybean or cactus of interest into the culture (the DNA is basically pushed off the bullet of the gun when the bullet is prevented from exiting the gun because of the momentum)

Using the Ti plasmid can be more expensive than using the gene gun because a license to use the plasmid is required by Monsanto, the company that holds the patent of the bacteria that contains the it (Belk 210, 211). As a result, researchers that want to avoid this extra expense often use the gene gun instead.

Of course, manipulating the genetics of the Colorado Butterfly Plant could have harmful consequences. For example, it could lead to decreasing genetic variation. This could cause the majority of plants to have almost identical genes, and if a disease was to infect one plant, the probability of the disease wiping out the entire population of plants is drastically increased. There could also be unforeseen environmental impacts such as the gene for herbicide resistance being harmful to the insects that pollinate these flowering plants. If this gene, in any way, alters the pollen of the plant, it could become deadly to butterflies, caterpillars, and bees, among other insects, which could cause a widespread decrease in many plant populations.

If somehow these genes are acquired by other organisms in the immediate area of the Colorado Butterfly Plant, a more drastic occurrence of what I just described could be possible; the areas of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado that support the plant could eventually become literal deserts, with no plant life. I hope that your organization explores all consequences, good and bad, before beginning genetic mutation of the Colorado Butterfly Plant.

Best wishes,
Iman Evergreen

Sources:

American Museum of Natural History. No posting date found. "Around the World with DNA." http://www.ology.amnh.org/genetics/aroundtheworld/index.html. Accessed 31 Mar 07.

Belk, Colleen and Virginia Borden. 2007. Biology: Science for Life. Chapter 8: Genetic Engineering. pages 192 - 221.

CPC National Collection Plant Profile. No posting date found. Gaura neomexicana var. coloradensis. http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/ASP/CPC_ViewProfile.asp?CPCNum=1997. Accessed 31 Mar 07.

US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2007. Colorado Butterfly Plant. http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfileSpeciesReport.do?spcode=Q0VV.
Accessed 31 Mar 07.

Adopt-a-Species Assignment 1

Hello and welcome to "All about Plants," the show where it's all about plants! My name is Iman Evergreen and today we'll be talking about Gaura neomexicana var. coloradensis, known by it's more popular name - the Colorado Butterfly Plant, a perennial herb.

[source: US Fish and Wildlife Service Mountain-Prairie Region Endangered Species Program]

Gaura neomexicana var. coloradensis belongs to the kingdom Plantae and is a flowering plant. The class it belongs to, Magnoliopsida, is characterized by having two seed leaves (cotyledons) and cambium tissue in the stems. It belongs to the order Myrtales, and the family Onagraceae, which is also known as the Willowherb or Evening Primrose family. The Onagraceae family is characterized by having four sepals and petals. The Colorado Butterfly plant, of course, produces its own nutrients by way of photosynthesis.

This lovely plant is native to parts of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming and has been listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Consequently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has designated (as of 11 January 2005) 3538 acres of critical habitat area inside the Platte and Laramie counties of Wyoming. A critical habitat area is an area of land that has been deemed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to have the necessary features needed to conserve the threatened/endangered species in question.

The Colorado Butterfly plant normally resides in moist areas of floodplains, and stands two to three feet tall with a few flowers open at a time that are white in color and redden with age. There are several primary threats to this beautiful herb, including but not limited to: loss of habitat due to urban development, haying, mowing, over-grazing, land conversion for cultivation, and non-selective use of herbicides.

This plant could be very useful for medicinal purposes, as are many native herbs. However, due to its declining numbers, research could be hard to conduct. The Colorado Butterfly plant could be adversely affected by global warming as well; the warming of the climate would cause the moist areas that the plant resides in to dry up, leading to the wipe out of this herb.

Well, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you for your interest in threatened and endangered plants! Remember: we all share the earth so let's make it easier for our green neighbors to flourish!

Sources:

HighBeam Research, LLC. 2005. Info Please. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0859430.html. Accessed 22 Feb 07.

US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2007. Colorado Butterfly Plant.
http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/SpeciesReport.do?spcode=Q0VV. Accessed 22 Feb 07.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prairie Region. No posting date known. Home Page.
http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/species/plants/cobutterfly/. Accessed 22 Feb 07.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prairie Region. 11 Jan 05. Critical Habitat for Colorado Butterfly Plant Press Release. http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/pressrel/05-03.htm. Accessed 22 Feb 07.

Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 28 Nov 06. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onagraceae. Accessed 22 Feb 07.