Rob Massatti and Trevor Faske presented Landscape Stewardship Collective’s research at the North American Congress for Conservation and Restoration. Their talks explored how scientific evidence can help practitioners choose native seed sources and evaluate the tools used to guide restoration.
Rob: How seed choices shape restoration
Rob’s talk, Genetic Consequences of Seed Sourcing Strategies for Ecological Restoration, presented research developed with Trevor on how different sourcing approaches affect the diversity represented in restoration materials.
Using data from thousands of plants across several wildflower and grass-like species, the study compared environmental regions, seed transfer zones, and genetic neighborhoods. These approaches often selected different populations. Combining sources generally captured more diversity, but the range of adaptations represented depended on the species and sourcing strategy. The findings highlight the value of species-specific evidence when choosing seed for a project.
Download Rob’s presentation (PDF, 10 MB)
Trevor: When genetic tools help—and when they mislead
Trevor’s talk, From theory to practice: Uses and misuses of genotype-environment associations to inform restoration and conservation, examined methods that connect genetic differences among plants with environmental conditions. The work was developed with Kyra LoPiccolo and Rob.
Drawing on the 1001 Arabidopsis Genomes Project and a review of more than 1,000 studies, Trevor explored how analytical choices can lead to different conclusions. His talk emphasized that many management questions are better served by examining patterns across the full genetic dataset than by relying only on individual genetic markers associated with environmental conditions.
Download Trevor’s presentation (PDF, 3.2 MB)
Both talks focused on making research useful for the decisions practitioners face, while recognizing what the evidence can—and cannot—tell us.