Cabrillo Hosts Cutting-Edge Genetics Research

Collecting Shaw's agave leaf samples for genetic analysis at Cabrillo National Monument. NPS

February 2020 - Maria leaned back from an agave leaf and took a break from collecting samples to wipe the sweat from her forehead. She gazed at the glittering Cabrillo National Monument coastline and a view that encompasses Mexico and the Coronado Islands. Maria and three other high school students were helping understand genetic diversity of Shaw’s agave in collaboration with the Boz Life Sciences Research and Teaching Institute and the Southern California Research Learning Center (RLC).

The endangered agave grows only in coastal southern California and northern Mexico. It has declined because of human activities and natural erosion. Managing this species—including a population in the park that was established in the 1970s with transplants from unknown sources—depends on knowing how genetically variable are the plants and soil microbes that provide nutrients, and how populations are related to each other.

Boz Institute researchers, with Maria and other students, collected samples from plants and soil in the park. They sequenced the DNA of the plants and compared them to sequences from the San Diego Navy Base (U.S.), the border crossing (U.S.), Rosarito (Mexico), and Arroyo Hondo (Mexico). Their analysis showed agaves in the park are genetically diverse and more similar to agaves in Mexico than to other, recently-extirpated, U.S. populations. This result means that park managers do not need to translocate plants or pollen from Mexico. They can instead focus on supporting pollinators or other local factors that may help the park population grow. The study will be submitted to the peer-reviewed journal Molecular Ecology this spring.

Collaboration among the park, Boz Institute, and the Southern California RLC enabled this research. And it let Maria and her peers gain experience that fosters their identities as scientists. Their efforts to understand local biodiversity help conserve it for everyone.

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• Cabrillo National Monument

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