Description

Agave shawii, also known as Shaw’s agave, is a native succulent found in Baja California and Southern California. This species is important and versatile for native people in these areas, who use the succulent for its nutrition and durability for tools and clothing items. Previous research on Agave shawii has focused on its unsuccessful reproduction rates and low seed counts. For the populations located in Southern California, it has been difficult to pinpoint specific pollinators of the species. There has also been research on how the weather conditions in Southern California led to a decrease in its reproduction and increase in its survival. Despite these challenges, Agave shawii is not listed as threatened or endangered on the Environmental Conservation Online System. The purpose of this study is a) to determine the genetic diversity of the Agave shawii population at Cabrillo National Monument, which is located at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, and b) to determine whether individuals in this area are reproducing sexually or asexually by clonal propagation. Even though clonality helps keep population numbers high, it causes the genetic diversity to plummet leading to negative effects in the whole population. We have collected a total of 110 samples from 55 individuals from Cabrillo National Monument. We are currently running DNA extractions from each sample to determine if there are any clones. We will generate thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms to calculate the genetic diversity and levels of clonality. We hope our results can give us information to understand the genetic diversity of this particular population of Agave shawii. If cloning is found in this population, it will be crucial to look into possible causes for this occurrence and to bring foreign pollen to increase genetic diversity. This research will help us work towards successful conservation and reproduction of the Agave shawii population in Southern California. We also hope this research will shine light on other species that are understudied and in need of reproductive and conservation studies.