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Kanin Routson
M.S. Candidate in Environmental Sciences and Policy
B.A., Environmental Studies, Prescott College
In my research at NAU I am working with the Center for Sustainable Environments to preserve historic orchards in the Southwest. These early orchards are of cultural importance for understanding the history of the Southwest as well as for providing sources of genetic diversity. Many of these orchards are located in National Parks, where historical cultural preservation has often been of lower priority than prehistoric and natural resource preservation. I am currently working with Capitol Reef National Park, Slide Rock State Park, and Hubbell Trading Post in mapping their historic orchards, identifying unique and heirloom fruit varieties, and in developing site-specific management plans.
My thesis work involves using microsatellites in the chloroplast DNA of apple leaves as a tool for identifying unknown apple varieties in historic orchards. When these orchards were planted, between 70 and 120 years ago, there was three to four times the diversity of apple varieties than exists today. Many of these heirloom varieties are morphologically very similar, and accurate descriptions are often lacking, making traditional identification methods difficult if not impossible. Microsatellites have been used successfully to differentiate between apple cultivars in the USDA genetic repositories in Geneva, NY. For my thesis, I plan to extend the use of this technology to look at unknown varieties in the Southwestern USA.
Email: Kjr53@nau.edu
Backpacking in Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon), Mexico
Banner photo: My study site in the historic orchards in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.
