Establishment from seed is more important for exotic than for native plant species.

Climate change has initiated movement of both native and non-native (exotic) species across the landscape. Exotic species are hypothesized to establish from seed more readily than comparable native species. We tested the hypothesis that seed limitation is more important for exotic species than native grassland species.

Harnessing the power of botanical gardens: Evaluating the costs and resources needed for exceptional plant conservation.

Premise: The effective ex situ conservation of exceptional plants, whether in living collections or cryo-collections, requires more resources than the conservation of other species. Because of their expertise with rare plants, botanical gardens are well positioned to lead this effort, but a well-developed strategy requires a clear understanding of the resources needed.

Methods: Grant funding was obtained from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support a three-year project on cryobanking, and to provide smaller grants to 10 other botanical gardens for one-year projects on either (1) seed behavior studies or (2) the development of protocols for in vitro propagation or cryopreservation.

Revisiting the comparative phylogeography of unglaciated eastern North America: 15 years of patterns and progress.

In a landmark comparative phylogeographic study, "Comparative phylogeography of unglaciated eastern North America," Soltis et al. (, 2006, 15, 4261) identified geographic discontinuities in genetic variation shared across taxa occupying unglaciated eastern North America and proposed several common biogeographical discontinuities related to past climate fluctuations and geographic barriers. Since 2006, researchers have published many phylogeographical studies and achieved many advances in genotyping and analytical techniques; however, it is unknown how this work has changed our understanding of the factors shaping the phylogeography of eastern North American taxa.