Category Archives: Pseudopanax

Practical conservation

28 September 2011 – 5.01pm
I first got into studying biodiversity because I wanted New Zealand’s plants and animals to be looked after better.  New Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity is not in great shape.

Me planting a fierce lancewood seedling into the threatened population near Taihape. Photo Fleur Maseyk.

The juvenile leaves of the Taihape population are a comparatively dark colour. Photo Leon Perrie.

A lot of my research at Te Papa – describing new species, distinguishing and mapping different species, and determining how populations and species are related to one another – supports conservation management. But my job does not often make an active and direct contribution to keeping things alive.

So I was thrilled recently to play a small part in helping a very threatened population. Especially as it was a species I have a special interest in: fierce lancewood (Pseudopanax ferox).

Fierce lancewood is sparsely distributed through the country. I’ve previously studied the genetics of its populations (abstract here; email me if you want a pdf of the entire paper; previous post here), and written on how its populations might be prioritised for conservation management. Now I’ve followed that pontificating with getting my hands dirty, literally.
 
The population near Taihape is very isolated. Its closest neighbours are near Auckland to the north and Wellington/Nelson to the south.
 
The Taihape population is also very small – just four individuals were originally recorded several decades ago. We found just two adults, and two self-sown seedlings.

Viv McGlynn. Photo Graham Pritchard.

Fortunately, Viv McGlynn (formerly of DoC) initiated supplemental planting, with support from Henry Dorrian. Seed was collected from the Taihape trees and grown by Douglas Gordon of Palmerston City Council. During a recent weekend, I joined Viv and other members of the Manawatu Botanical Society in planting 27 of Viv and Douglas’s seedlings into the Taihape population. This gives the population a bit of bulk, and increases its chances of long-term survival. We were also pleased to discover two self-sown seedlings in the immediate vicinity.

The Manawatu Botanical Society, plus neighbour, strategising beforehand, while standing underneath one of the adult fierce lancewoods. Photo Graham Pritchard.

I think this is a great example of agencies and organisations working together to achieve a positive conservation outcome, albeit driven by individual initiative and good-will.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants | Tagged , , , | Comments (3)

Creating a buzz

22 February 2011 – 7.38am

I was recently surprised to find my plant of Aupouri coastal five-finger (Pseudopanax lessonii) swarming with flies.

Flies, including Calliphora vicina (the larger, blue fly) and Oxysarcodexia varia (with yellow-black stripes), swarming on the flowers of Aupouri coastal five-finger. My thanks to entomological colleagues for identifying the flies. (c) Leon Perrie

The flies were attracted to the flowers presumably by a feed of nectar on what was a hot, summer day.

I could see at least three fly species, plus a bumblebee.

Pollination is not a role we often credit to flies. I’m hoping these ones were effective and I get a bumper seed crop.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Bugs, insects and spiders, Plants | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Te Papa in Botanical Bulletin

4 May 2010 – 2.00pm

A new issue of the Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin has just been published.

Included are three articles by Te Papa staff:

• Curator Carlos Lehnebach describes his research on Uncinia hook-sedges.

• Research Scientist Heidi Meudt writes about her study of Ourisia (native foxgloves).

• I have co-authored an article illustrating, differentiating, and mapping each of the Pseudopanax species (lancewoods and five-fingers).

A native foxglove (Ourisia), Taranaki. Photo by Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie, Wellington.

Mountain lancewood (Pseudopanax linearis), Heaphy Track. Photo by Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie, Wellington.

 Other articles deal with: searches for an uncommon grass (Simplicia), an extinct scurvy “grass” (Lepidium), and an uncommon aquatic moss (Fissidens berteroi); ecological restoration; history of Otari-Wilton’s Bush; Wellington diatoms; Coprosma hybrids; plants around the National War Memorial’s Carillon; and the obituaries of two Society stalwarts.

The Bulletin is issued free to all members of the Society.

Wellington Botanical Society membership.

Disclaimer: I’m the Bulletin’s editor.

Te Papa blog posts on Uncinia.

Te Papa blog posts on Pseudopanax.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants, Sedges | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Hybrid hunt turns up more weedy natives

22 January 2010 – 9.21am

I was out last week with Tim Park from the regional council looking for Pseudopanax hybrids between lancewood and coastal five-finger near Porirua.   

Coastal five-finger and the hybrids are weeds in the Wellington region.

Previous post on lancewood and coastal five-finger hybridisation.

We spotted a couple of other weedy natives – New Zealand species that are naturalising (self-sowing) outside their native range – that were new to us.

Meryta sinclairii, puka. Self-sown saplings near Porirua. Photo by Leon Perrie, Curator. © Te Papa.

Meryta sinclairii, puka, is native to the Three Kings Islands and (possibly) the Hen & Chickens Islands.  Puka is commonly cultivated.  While I’ve heard others report puka’s naturalisation, this was the first time I had seen it for myself.  Meryta is a close relative of Pseudopanax.

Probable Pseudopanax discolor. Self-sown saplings near Porirua. Photo by Leon Perrie, Curator. © Te Papa.

An even more interesting find was what appeared to be naturalising Pseudopanax discolor.  This species is native to Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula.  I was not previously aware of it naturalising in Wellington (or anywhere outside its native range).  Pseudopanax discolor is rare in gardens, although cultivars and/or its hybrids with P. lessonii are fairly common.

I’m interested in weedy natives, especially in the Wellington region where Corynocarpus laevigatus (karaka), Hoheria populnea (lacebark), Metrosideros excelsa (pohutukawa), Pittosporum crassifolium, Pittosporum ralphii, Pseudopanax crassifolius x lessonii, and Pseudopanax lessonii (coastal five-finger) are widespread and well known.  I’d be interested in reports of other species naturalising.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Field trips, Plants | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Public talk on Pseudopanax

20 September 2009 – 7.49pm

I’ll be joining Lara Shepherd (Allan Wilson Centre, Massey University) to give a talk on Pseudopanax Monday night (21 September 2009) in Wellington.

We’ll begin by discussing each of the species: how to identify them and where to see them.  Then we’ll cover the results of our research projects that have looked at hybridisation between the species, and genetic variation within coastal five-finger (P. lessonii) and fierce lancewood (P. ferox).  We’ll touch on conservation issues, and the debate over where New Zealand’s forests survived during the Ice-Age.

The talk has been organised by the Wellington Botanical Society, but non-members are most welcome.

The meeting begins at 7.30pm in Lecture Theatre 101 of the Murphy Building, Victoria University.

More details of Wellington Botanical Society meetings.

Blog posts on Pseudopanax. 

Five finger, whauwhaupaku, Pseudopanax arboreus. Photo by Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie, Wellington.

Five finger, whauwhaupaku, Pseudopanax arboreus. Photo by Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie, Wellington.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

DNA-fingerprinting fierce lancewood

30 June 2009 – 5.01pm

Aside from ferns, my main research interest is the group of trees known as Pseudopanax, for which I collaborate with Lara Shepherd from the Allan Wilson Centre.

Blog posts on ferns

Blog posts on Pseudopanax

Lara at the Allan Wilson Centre

Pseudopanax includes the lancewoods and five-fingers. Several of the species are popular in cultivation, including fierce lancewood (Pseudopanax ferox). This species is so named for having bigger ‘teeth’ along the margins of its juvenile leaves than lancewood (Pseudopanax crassifolius).

Blog post on lancewood and its hybridisation with coastal five-finger

Paper in Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution about the relationships of Pseudopanax

Fierce lancewood, Pseudopanax ferox. Juveniles (left) and adults (right) have very different leaves and habits. Both images by Leon Perrie, Curator. © Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Fierce lancewood, Pseudopanax ferox. Juveniles (left) and adults (right) have very different leaves and habits. Both images by Leon Perrie, Curator. © Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

 

How are fierce lancewood populations related? In the wild, fierce lancewood has a very discontinuous distribution, with some populations being very isolated. We want to know how the various populations are related to one another. We are using a DNA-fingerprinting method known as “microsatellites” to determine how the various populations are related to one another. The approach is analogous to criminal forensics.

Microsatellites are highly variable regions of DNA. Each microsatellite has a number of variants which differ in length. We determine how many DNA nucleotides long the microsatellite variants are in each individual sampled. This tells us how the individuals and the populations they came from are related.

 

At each different kind of microsatellite, each individual has two copies, one inherited from its mother and the other from its father. The two copies in an individual can be the same or different lengths. This is a figure of one particular kind of microsatellite for two individuals. In the upper individual, the two copies are of different lengths: length 129, which is quite uncommon, and length 135 which is common and widespread. In the lower individual, the two copies are both of length 135, which is why there is only one large peak.

At each different kind of microsatellite, each individual has two copies, one inherited from its mother and the other from its father. The two copies in an individual can be the same or different lengths. This is a figure of one particular kind of microsatellite for two individuals. In the upper individual, the two copies are of different lengths: length 129, which is quite uncommon, and length 135 which is common and widespread. In the lower individual, the two copies are both of length 135, which is why there is only one large peak.

 

Our preliminary analyses suggest there are four principal genetic groups within fierce lancewood. There has probably been very little gene-flow between these groups for some time.

The four principal genetic groups detected by microsatellite DNA-fingerprinting in fierce lancewood are indicated by different colours. The small grey circles are populations that we haven’t sampled, but which are represented by specimens in the herbarium collections of Te Papa, Auckland Museum, and Landcare Research.

The four principal genetic groups detected by microsatellite DNA-fingerprinting in fierce lancewood are indicated by different colours. The small grey circles are populations that we haven’t sampled, but which are represented by specimens in the herbarium collections of Te Papa, Auckland Museum, and Landcare Research.

 

One of the four groups, that in the southern North Island (the brown dot), comprises a single population on one hillside!

On the other hand, another of the four groups encompasses most of the South Island (from Kaikoura southwards; green dots). The absence of strong genetic subdivision within this group suggests its populations have been more recently connected by gene-flow. This may indicate that fierce lancewood has recently been more continuously distributed in the central and southern South Island, perhaps even until the widespread clearance of lowland forests by humans.

Our preliminary analyses also suggest that the central and southern South Island populations of fierce lancewood may have survived the Last Glacial Maximum of the ice-age more or less in situ, rather than being derived from one or a few major refugia. This is consistent with the hypothesis that there was widespread survival of New Zealand’s forests during the ice-age, as we have previously inferred from genetic analyses of the forest fern Asplenium hookerianum.

 Paper in Molecular Ecology about the ice-age survival of New Zealand’s vegetation

 

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Our promiscuous Pseudopanax plants

10 June 2009 – 1.43pm

New Zealand’s plants have a bit of a reputation for pronounced promiscuity. There is supposedly a high rate of hybridisation, or individuals of one species breeding with individuals of a different species.

I’m not entirely sure that this reputation is nationally deserved. Nevertheless, a striking example of hybridisation occurs in Pseudopanax, which is one of the groups I am researching; indeed, their hybridisation is what attracted me to them!

Two of the species – Pseudopanax crassifolius, horoeka, lancewood, and Pseudopanax lessonii, houpara, coastal five-finger – hybridise wherever they occur together, be this in the wild or in cultivation. 

The leaf on the left is of coastal five-finger, that on the right is from a juvenile lancewood, and the three in between are from different hybrid individuals. Photos by Leon Perrie. Montage (c) Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

The leaf on the left is of coastal five-finger, that on the right is from a juvenile lancewood, and the three in between are from different hybrid individuals. Photos by Leon Perrie. Montage (c) Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

More images of leaves from hybrids are here.

There are several other five-finger and lancewood Pseudopanax species in New Zealand. However, despite their very different appearance, most of the hybridisation I have seen appears to be between lancewood and coastal five-finger, and we are using genetic analyses to determine just how much gene-flow occurs between them.

 

Juvenile lancewood, horoeka, Pseudopanax crassifolius. Photo by Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie, Wellington.

Juvenile lancewood, horoeka, Pseudopanax crassifolius. Photo by Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie, Wellington.

Adult lancewood, horoeka, Pseudopanax crassifolius. Photo by Leon Perrie, Curator. (c) Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Adult lancewood, horoeka, Pseudopanax crassifolius. Photo by Leon Perrie, Curator. (c) Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

 

Coastal five-finger, houpara, Pseudopanax lessonii. Photo by Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie, Wellington.

Coastal five-finger, houpara, Pseudopanax lessonii. Photo by Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie, Wellington.

Some of the hybrids are easy to identify, but others closely resemble one or other of the parental species. Any individual with leaves that look like those of lancewood but with two or more leaflets is actually a hybrid. Coastal five-finger always has broad leaflets.

Wellington’s Otari-Wilton’s Bush has a garden display of lancewood, coastal five-finger, and their hybrids, for 2009.

Lancewood occurs naturally throughout New Zealand. Coastal five-finger and the hybrids are native only to the coasts of the northern North Island (about Raglan and Gisborne northwards), but are frequently cultivated elsewhere. Coastal five-finger and the hybrids have escaped from cultivation, effectively becoming weeds, in many places outside their native distribution.  They can be very invasive.

Distribution maps for (A) lancewood, (B) coastal five-finger, and (C) their hybrids. Circles indicate natural distributions, and were compiled using data from the AK (Auckland Museum), CHR (Landcare Research), NZFRI (Scion), and WELT (Te Papa) herbaria. Squares for coastal five-finger and the hybrids indicate their ‘weedy’ distribution, this being a preliminary assessment based on my observations.

Distribution maps for (A) lancewood, (B) coastal five-finger, and (C) their hybrids. Circles indicate natural distributions, and were compiled using data from the AK (Auckland Museum), CHR (Landcare Research), and WELT (Te Papa) herbaria. Squares for coastal five-finger and the hybrids indicate their ‘weedy’ distribution, this being a preliminary assessment based on my observations.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (9)

We have DNA

4 February 2009 – 2.32pm
DNA of Pseudopanax on agarose gel after electrophoresis

DNA of Pseudopanax on agarose gel after electrophoresis

The first step after collecting samples for genetic analyses is to extract the DNA. Lara and I do this for lancewood and five-finger plants (Pseudopanax) by:

  • freezing a small piece of leaf tissue in liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees C !) and grinding it as finely as possible.
  • adding a detergent to release the DNA from the cells of the leaf tissue.
  • adding chloroform.  The detergent and chloroform do not mix (like oil and water), but proteins and other things we do not want are drawn into the chloroform while the DNA is left in the detergent.
  • the detergent layer is removed, and alcohol is added to it.  This precipitates the DNA (i.e., makes it turn into a solid), and we can actually see it.  I don’t have any pictures of Pseudopanax DNA, but precipitated DNA all looks much the same – see this link.

It is possible to extract DNA using household items (see this link).

In order to analyse the DNA further we have to make it go back into solution. The alcohol is tipped off, and a small amount of salt solution is added; the DNA ‘dissolves’ in this.

To test the quality and quantity of the extracted DNA, we run a small amount of the DNA solution on an agarose gel in a process called electrophoresis (see link).

In the gel above, each lane corresponds to a separate sample, except the right-most lane which is a ‘ladder’ for sizing the DNA samples. A negative charge was applied at the top and a positive charge at the bottom. DNA is negatively charged, so its moves towards a positive charge.

The bright blobs indicated by the green arrow indicate that we got high quality (the DNA is in big pieces, as it hasn’t moved very far) and quantity (a brighter stain indicates more DNA) for most of these samples, which is great!

The sample labelled 5957 (my collection number) is a bit weak, while we didn’t get anything for sample 5964.

These DNA extractions are all from samples of fierce lancewood (Pseudopanax ferox), except 5966 which is P. macintyrei.

Adult tree of fierce lancewood, Pseudopanax ferox.

Adult tree of fierce lancewood, Pseudopanax ferox.

 

Pseudopanax macintyrei.

Pseudopanax macintyrei.

The next step in assessing the relationships of these plants is to genetically ‘fingerprint’ them.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Lancewood hunting

12 January 2009 – 4.13pm

Field-work is one of the best aspects of working as a Natural Environment curator at Te Papa. I get to spend about three weeks a year in the field collecting plant specimens.

tepapa4wd2

Te Papa’s 4WD. If seen outside Wellington, there is a good chance this vehicle is being used to collect plants, whales, or fossils.

I’ve recently returned from ten days field-work in the South Island, collecting samples for our research on lancewood (horoeka, Pseudopanax crassifolius) and fierce lancewood (P. ferox). This is in collaboration with Lara Shepherd from Massey University. Lancewood is a common forest tree and we are using DNA analyses to determine where it survived in New Zealand during the last glacial period. This follows our previous research on the forest fern Hooker’s spleenwort (Asplenium hookerianum), which seems to have survived throughout New Zealand, and conflicts with evidence that Metrosideros trees (rata and pohutukawa) were confined to only a few refugia.

Fierce lancewood, named for its bigger ‘teeth’ on the leaf margins, is more sparsely distributed that lancewood. Given the discontinuous distribution of fierce lancewood, we expected each population to exhibit its own diagnostic set of genetic variation. Preliminary results suggest this might be true for Auckland and Wellington populations, but, at this stage, we can’t genetically distinguish populations from the southern South Island, indicating the geographic discontinuity there is a geologically-recent phenomenon. We collected specimens to augment our existing sampling (the northern South Island, in particular, was a bit of a gap for us for both lancewood and fierce lancewood).

pseudopanax_ferox_juvenile_leaf1
Apex of a leaf from a juvenile fierce lancewood, showing the curious ‘paint-splash’ coloration. I have heard it hypothesised that the prominent white splashes draw attention to the marginal ‘teeth’, themselves a putative defence against moa herbivory.

The trip was largely successful, with the weather good and the plants cooperative (in that we could find them where they were supposed to be). We now have to process the samples in the laboratory, which isn’t nearly as much fun but still necessary if we are to address the questions we’re interested in.

pseudopanax_ferox_juvenile2

A juvenile of fierce lancewood.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (6)
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 276 other followers