field work, herbaria, databases, floras, and monographs for plant systematics spring 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Field Work, Herbaria, Databases, Floras, and Monographs for Plant Systematics
Spring 2014
Systematics
• Science of organismal diversity• Discovery, description and interpretation of
biological diversity• Discovery and description of the
evolutionary tree of life (phylogeny)• Synthesis of information in the form of
predictive classification systems• Production of identification tools (e.g., keys,
floras and faunas, monographs, databases, etc.)
What systematists do(when they are not doing phylogenetics)
• Field work
• Specimens/herbaria
• Databases, keys
• Floras, monographs, websites
Field Work
Important steps in doing field work
• Figure out where the plants grow (herbarium specimens, databases)
• Make contacts in those countries• Solicit appropriate collecting and
export permits• Find the funds to do the field work!• Get the proper equipment (either take it
with you or get it when you arrive)
Important steps cont’d.
• Arrange for transportation (and lodging if visiting a field station)
• Collect the specimens (take any necessary measurements in the field; take photos)
• Process the specimens (drying, sorting into duplicates)
• Make and distribute the labels (including georeferencing)
• Arrange for shipping of your duplicates to your institution
Collecting Challenges
Bamboo flowers!
Costa Rica
Collecting bamboo leaf samples for DNA(DNA usually requires a special permit)
Pressingspecimens
Specimens are stored in the herbarium
A herbarium is a plant library, containing pressed and driedplant and fungal specimens.
Fig. 18.2
Fig. 18.3
Cofre del Perote, Veracruz, Mexico
These plants are nowpart of the living bamboocollection at the Clavigero Botanical Garden,Instituto de Ecología,Xalapa, Mexico.
Leaves in silica gelfor DNA extraction
Buds and leaves and other partsas appropriate may be preservedin alcohol for anatomical study
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~herbarium/index.html
Ada Hayden Herbarium Iowa State University
Collections of Chusquea serpens from Costa Rica
Chusquea latifolia(Colombia)
Chusquea serpens(Costa Rica)
Chusquea latifolia drawings
Fig. A2.1
Leaf anatomyand micromorphology
It’s all about the characters!
Description and mapping of a new species
Chusquea species description per decade
Hillcane(Arundinaria appalachiana)
A new bamboo native to the U.S.A.described in 2006
We still don’t know our own flora completely!
Flora of North America
http://floranorthamerica.org/
A flora is a taxonomic treatment of plant diversity in a given region or political unit or habitat.
http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/research/iowagrasses/
Grasses of Iowa
A monograph is ataxonomic treatmentof a particular taxon,usually a family or genusor subdivision of one of these.