In 1983 the Alberta Environmental Centre (AEC) at Vegreville began a program to develop licensed, commercially available seed varieties suitable for use in the reclamation of rangeland and man-made disturbances in the alpine and subalpine regions of the East Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Poa alpina L., one of the species potentially suitable for use in alpine reclamation was selected on the basis of its hardiness, its ability to withstand and even flourish under extreme stress conditions and its ability to colonize disturbances in alpine environments. In conjunction with the breeding program an experiment was set up:
1. To compare the reproductive response of four populations of P. alpina grown under different temperature conditions.
2. To determine the best growth chamber temperature conditions for the P. alpina life cycle.