................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE ..........................................1 Yellow toadflax history and biology........................................................................................... 1 Dalmatian toadflax history and biology ...................................................................................... 3 Toadflax invasion and ecological impact ................................................................................... 6 Toadflax Hybrids ........................................................................................................................ 7 Management of toadflax invasion ............................................................................................. 10 Using PCR-RFLP markers and pDNA barcoding to identify plastid haplotypes ..................... 12 CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENT OF PLASTID PCR-RFLP MARKERS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN YELLOW TOADFLAX AND DALMATIAN TOADFLAX pDNA HAPLOTYPES ..............................................................................................................................20 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 20 Methods and Materials .............................................................................................................. 21 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER 3: THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLASTID DNA BARCODING MARKERS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN YELLOW TOADFLAX AND DALMATIAN TOADFLAX PDNA HAPLOTYPES ..............................................................................................................................44 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 44 Methods and Materials .............................................................................................................. 46 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 48 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................64 LITERATURE CITED ..................................................................................................................66