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Item Systematic analysis of Russula in the North American Rocky Mountain alpine zone(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2020) Noffsinger, Chance Ray; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cathy L. CrippsRussula Pers. (Russulales) is an important ectomycorrhizal fungal genus in alpine and Arctic regions where it occurs in association with Salix, Betula, Dryas, and Polygonum. Despite Russula’s importance and abundance in Arctic and alpine systems there has been no in-depth systematic analysis of the genus in these habitats. This is also true for alpine areas of the Rocky Mountains where only four species of Russula have been casually reported above treeline. The genus Russula is large, diverse, and intraspecific morphological variation makes taxonomic classification difficult, which means verification using molecular techniques is necessary. This research compared Rocky Mountain alpine Russula collections to Arctic and alpine collections from Europe using an in-depth morphological study and a systematic molecular analysis of the nuc rDNA ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region (ITS barcode) and the second largest subunit of the RNA polymerase II gene (RPB2). Over 130 Russula collections were sequenced including type material. This research confirmed eight species with intercontinental distributions in Arctic and alpine habitats, including R. nana, R. laccata, R. subrubens, R. cf. pascua, R. heterochroa, R. saliceticola, R. purpureofusca, and R. laevis. Two species are reported from subalpine habitats at treeline; R. montana with conifers and R. altaica with Betula. The Russula present in the Rocky Mountain alpine represent a subset of those known from other Arctic-alpine habitats and data show that multiple Russula species independently colonized alpine habitats. This is the first formal report of R. altaica, R. saliceticola, and R. subrubens in the Rocky Mountains and of R. heterochroa and R. purpureofusca in North America. Previous work matched sequences extracted from ectomycorrhiza in Canada to R. laevis, but this is the first work to collect this species and report it in North America. A key for the identification of alpine Russula in North America is provided. A history of Arctic and alpine mycology in North America is included and provides background material for the study. This work contributes to our knowledge of biodiversity in Arctic and alpine systems and will promote future ecological and taxonomic research on alpine Russula because little is known about these species or how to identify them.Item Genetic exploration of spike and seed morphology in a two-rowed barley nested association mapping panel(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2018) Getz, Megan Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jamie ShermanBarley (Hordeum vulgare) is unique as it has six-rowed cultivars and two-rowed cultivars. The six-rowed has three fertile florets on each spikelet, while two-rowed has only a single fertile center floret per spikelet. This by itself affects seed uniformity as seed produced in the lateral florets tend to be less symmetrical and smaller in size than the center floret. Yield and plumpness are also affected by spike morphology. While the genes and alleles affecting six-rowed vs. two-rowed spikes are known, there are a number of other genes that affect additional spike morphological traits such as number of seeds per head, length of head, and compaction of spikelets. Here, a two-rowed Nested Association Mapping (NAM) population was used to genetically dissect barley spike and seed morphology. To create the population, 13 diverse founder lines of barley were crossed with Conlon, a high yielding, plump, spring variety. Approximately 80 progenies were selected from each of the Conlon by founder crosses, and then backcrossed to Conlon in hopes of exposing the advantageous traits while adapting lines to the Great Plains of the Northwest. The population varying for spike and seed morphology was grown out in a field trial in Bozeman, MT and Logan, UT where phenotypic data was collected throughout the stages of growth and harvest. At maturity (Zadok's 50) stage five heads from each of the lines were collected. Digital Image Analysis was used to measure spike length, kernel count, density, and seed size. Genetic maps were created for each family as well as a consensus map for the whole population. Associations between the phenotypic data and the genotypic data observed in the individual families and consensus map allowed us to identify QTLs conserved across multiple families as well as unique to individual families. Evidence of pleiotropic effects between traits was observed. Some of the QTLs previously were identified, and some are novel. One of the families was of particular interest due to unique QTLs impacting seeds per spike and seed weight. Additionally, several novel QTLs were identified on chromosome 7H that highly impact seed traits.Item Identification of economic wireworms using traditional and molecular methods(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2013) Etzler, Frank Eric; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michael A. Ivie; Kevin W. Wanner, Anuar Morales-Rodriquez and Michael A. Ivie were co-authors of the article, 'DNA barcoding to improve the species level management of wireworms' submitted to the journal 'Journal of economic entomology' which is contained within this thesis.; Michael A. Ivie was a co-author of the article, 'Review of the Limonius canus LeConte, 1853 (Coleoptera: Elateridae)' submitted to the journal 'The coleopterists bulletin' which is contained within this thesis.Interest in wireworms has grown in the past decade due to their increasing pest status, largely due to the removal of effective seed treatments from the market. Currently, there is no effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy to control for wireworms, due to the diverse number of species that make up complexes in cropland. The purpose of this study was to determine what wireworm species are present in Montana's croplands and develop tools to make species concepts accessible to non-specialists. This was done using DNA barcoding to associate wireworms with adults. DNA barcoding was done by amplifying the Cytochrome-Oxidase I (COI) region of the mitochondrial genome. Twenty-nine (29) species were successfully sequenced and 13 species had adult and larval associations made, including three new associations. In addition, a LUCID pictorial key was also created to help identify species occurring in Montana. A LUCID key is a computer-based key where a user identifies a specimen with the help of pictures of each character. During the wireworm study, one species-group in the genus Limonius was found to include many economic species, including two that are important in Montana. This group needed to be reevaluated due to controversies raised in a recent revision, many of which dealt with economic species. With the combined use of morphological characters and DNA data, eight species are now recognized as belonging to the group. All of these subprojects show the combined use of DNA and morphology as essential to fully understanding wireworm species. With a more precise knowledge of the species that make up the complexes in Montana's croplands, we can focus on developing IPM stratetgies for efficient control.Item Morphological, genetic and molecular analysis of the mating process in Ustilago hordei(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1993) Martinez-Espinoza, Alfredo DickItem The relationship of morphological factors to field spring survival in winter wheat(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 1973) Ashraf, Muhammad