Title: Conservation Genetics of Kincaid’s Lupine: A Threatened Plant of Western Oregon and Southwest Washington Grasslands

Kincaid’s lupine (Lupinus oreganus Heller) is a federally listed threatened species native to remnant grassland of western Oregon and southwestern Washington, and is the primary larval host plant of a once thought extinct butterfly, Plebejus icarioides fenderi Macy. Past studies concerning Kincaid’s lupine reproduction suggested that populations may suffer reductions in fitness and progeny vigor due to inbreeding depression, but no direct investigation into range-wide patterns of genetic variation has been undertaken. I used nuclear DNA and chloroplast DNA simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to determine genet size and patterns of non-adventitious rhizomatous lupine spread, to estimate the number of genets within Kincaid’s lupine populations, and to assess whether seed transfer for the purpose of genetic rescue is an appropriate genetics management strategy for Kincaid’s lupine. Patterns of allelic diversity at nDNA SSR loci within study patches revealed that non-adventitious spread of rhizomes can extend to at least 27 m and may dominate a portion of a lupine patch or small population. However, gene