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Field Work, Herbaria, Databases, Floras, and Monographs for Plant Systematics

Field Work, Herbaria, Databases, Floras, and Monographs for Plant Systematics. Spring 2013. Systematics. Science of organismal diversity Discovery, description and interpretation of biological diversity Discovery and description of the evolutionary tree of life (phylogeny)

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Field Work, Herbaria, Databases, Floras, and Monographs for Plant Systematics

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  1. Field Work, Herbaria, Databases, Floras, and Monographs for Plant Systematics Spring 2013

  2. 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.)

  3. What systematists do(when they are not doingphylogenetics) • Field work • Specimens/herbaria • Databases, keys • Floras, monographs, websites

  4. Field Work

  5. 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)

  6. 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

  7. Collecting Challenges

  8. Costa Rica Collecting bamboo leaf samples for DNA (DNA usually requires a special permit) Bamboo flowers!

  9. Pressing specimens

  10. Specimens are stored in the herbarium A herbarium is a plant library, containing pressed and dried plant and fungal specimens.

  11. Fig. 18.2

  12. Fig. 18.3

  13. Cofre del Perote, Veracruz, Mexico These plants are now part of the living bamboo collection at the Clavigero Botanical Garden, Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Mexico.

  14. Buds and leaves and other parts as appropriate may be preserved in alcohol for anatomical study Leaves in silica gel for DNA extraction

  15. Ada Hayden Herbarium Iowa State University http://www.public.iastate.edu/~herbarium/index.html

  16. USDA PLANTS Database http://plants.usda.gov/

  17. Collections of Chusquea serpens from Costa Rica

  18. Chusquea latifolia (Colombia) Chusquea serpens (Costa Rica)

  19. Chusquea latifolia drawings

  20. Fig. A2.1

  21. Leaf anatomy and micromorphology It’s all about the characters!

  22. Description and mapping of a new species

  23. Chusquea species description per decade

  24. Hillcane (Arundinaria appalachiana) A new bamboo native to the U.S.A. described in 2006 We still don’t know our own flora completely!

  25. 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.

  26. Grasses of Iowa http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/research/iowagrasses/

  27. A monograph is a taxonomic treatment of a particular taxon, usually a family or genus or subdivision of one of these.

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