2022 Richard and Minnie Windler Award Recipients

Abstract

The Richard and Minnie Windler Award recognizes the authors of the best systematics and ecology papers published in Castanea during the previous year. For 2020, authors of two articles were selected as winners: Erika R. Moore, Carolina M. Siniscalchi, and Jennifer R. Mandel for their article, “Reevaluating genetic diversity and structure of Helianthus verticillatus (Asteraceae) after the discovery of new populations” (Castanea 86[2]:196–213), and Nicole M. Fama, Brandon T. Sinn, and Craig F. Barrett for their article, “Integrating genetics, morphology, and host specificity in conservation studies of a vulnerable, selfing, mycoheterotrophic orchid.” (Castanea 86[1]:1–21). The whorled sunflower (Helianthus verticillatus Small) is a federally listed endangered plant known from six disjunct populations occurring in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. Employing microsatellite data to explore genetic structuring and diversity of these populations, Moore and her colleagues discovered that though differentiated, these populations had high allelic diversity. The most recently discovered populations in Mississippi and Virginia had experienced genetic bottlenecks. Because the whorled sunflower is self-incompatible, such bottlenecks may have led to increased reliance on asexual reproduction in these populations. Nevertheless, these populations are genetically distinct, and harbor alleles important to the diversity of the species as a whole. Given the small size and unique genetic constitution of each population, species conservation necessitates protecting as many of these populations as possible.