Leopold Letter: A Newsletter of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Spring 2015, vol. 27, no.1

The Leopold Center was created by the Iowa Legislature as part of the Iowa Groundwater Protection Act of 1987. The Leopold Center believes contribute to a healthy ways of thinking about markets for Iowa farmers, a better understanding of local ecosystems, public policies and economic practices, and partnerships with consumers.

EPI Update, March 27, 2015

Weekly newsletter for Center For Acute Disease Epidemiology of Iowa Department of Public Health.

Iowa Crop Progress & Condition, April 27, 2015

Report produced by the The Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Climatology Bureau. Weather report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service. The report is released weekly from April through October. Formally titled: Iowa Crop and Weather Report

Dallas County, Township 81 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Boone County, Township 82 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Boone County, Township 83 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Boone County, Township 84 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Boone County, Township 85 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Webster County, Township 86 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Webster County, Township 87 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Webster County, Township 88 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Webster County, Township 89 North Range 27 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Ecology and life history affect different aspects of the population structure of 27 high-alpine plants.

A plant species' genetic population structure is the result of a complex combination of its life history, ecological preferences, position in the ecosystem and historical factors. As a result, many different statistical methods exist that measure different aspects of species' genetic structure. However, little is known about how these methods are interrelated and how they are related to a species' ecology and life history. In this study, we used the IntraBioDiv amplified fragment length polymorphisms data set from 27 high-alpine species to calculate eight genetic summary statistics that we jointly correlate to a set of six ecological and life-history traits. We found that there is a large amount of redundancy among the calculated summary statistics and that there is a significant association with the matrix of species traits. In a multivariate analysis, two main aspects of population structure were visible among the 27 species. The first aspect is related to the species' dispersal capacities and the second is most likely related to the species' postglacial recolonization of the Alps. Furthermore, we found that some summary statistics, most importantly Mantel's r and Jost's D, show different behaviour than expected based on theory. We therefore advise caution in drawing too strong conclusions from these statistics.