Plants were transferred to a field site (2 m × 2 m spacing) in June 2011 at the Ford Center Research Forest, south of L'Anse, Michigan (46°38′37″N 88°28′46″W), and leaf morphological traits were scored again in summer of 2012.
The genetic correlation between SCORE4 9 (aggregate score of traits scored on the pathological signs of OA) and SCORE1 3 (aggregate score of traits scored largely on signs of morphological malformation) was 0.89 (±0.023) when both were transformed using natural logarithm of aggregate score +1, and 0.92 (±0.020) when untransformed, indicating substantial genetic similarity between the two groups.
Two morphological traits were also scored: Pl for hilum colour and R for round/wrinkled seeds.
Many students demonstrated an increased understanding regarding the role of researcher variation in scoring morphological traits and the benefits of molecular analysis.
Item analysis revealed two question items that did not show a statistically significant increase in scores from pretest to posttest: question item 1 and item 5. Question item 1 was aimed at measuring student understanding that scoring morphological traits is subjective.
Furthermore, selection with indices representative of aggregate scores of morphological traits (NA+SUB+CrAE and NA+SUB) were between 10 12% more accurate than total score for a1 and a2 and 6 7% more accurate for a3 where higher value is placed on improving the traits that are descriptive of pathological OA.
Furthermore an easily applicable aggregate of scores of morphological traits would only be marginally less accurate than the optimum.
Within the hybrid transect and inside the core hybrid zone, where individuals experience the same environment, plumage traits, but not morphological traits, were correlated with Q-scores (Table 1).
The first component mainly differentiated the Canadian river otter (Lontra canadensis) with positive scores from cursorial carnivores with negative scores according to a set of morphological traits.
Having ascertained the magnitude of the genetic relationship between these two groups of traits, the predictive ability of morphological traits on the pathologically descriptive traits was assessed using EBVs calculated from dogs scored at a young age and using them as predictors of phenotypes of offspring scored at a late age (see Materials and Methods).
