Characterization of native plant production practices for Spartina alterniflora restoration

Introduction The commercial native plant industry is increasingly used to supply plants for ecosystem restoration. Efforts to characterize this industry are needed to evaluate common practices and their ecological and evolutionary implications. Objectives We characterized industry practices for the production of Spartina alterniflora , a widely distributed and commonly restored wetland plant species in the United States, with a particular focus on practices that could affect evolutionary processes and thus genetic variation in the resulting stock. Methods We conducted interviews of commercial nurseries that produce S. alterniflora along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. For each nursery, we characterized key practices regarding sourcing, storage, grow out, and distribution. We also used qualitative coding techniques to document nursery social networks, key sources of industry uncertainty, and nursery local ecological knowledge. Results We show that the majority of the surveyed nurseries produce their stock from seed, rather than collection of adults or clonal production of cultivars. In addition, the majority of nurseries surveyed collected seeds from multiple sites, and generally from a broad area, consistent with best practices. Conclusions The surveyed nurseries follow many of the evolutionarily informed best practices in the scientific literature. Nursery social networks and concerns regarding industry stability were representative of the broader industry.