Abstract Detail

Systematics Section

Shipunov, Alexey B. [1], Volkova, Polina [2].

Stability of leaf form and size during herbarization.

It is common to draw taxonomic conclusions from the analysis of the herbarium material and then apply them to the living, fresh material. However, many widely used morphological characters are changing during herbarization and therefore applicability of morphometric data based on the measurements of dry plants is not universal. We tried to understand how different characters change during herbarization. Fresh and dry leaves of ten plant species were measured and scanned to determine how stable are commonly used absolute (e.g., leaf length) characters, relative characters (e.g., relative position of maximal with) and leaf contour. For the latest, we employed landmark-based thin plate splines (TPS) analysis. We found that all absolute sizes were different after herbarization (typically decrease 1.1-1.2 times), whereas leaf form were not differ significantly between most of fresh and dry leaves. Relative characters were more stable then absolute but less stable then a form as a whole. We are arguing that it is essential to provide measures and/or photographs of fresh materials along with herbarium material, all the more so because in two cases (20%) leaf contours were also significantly changed.

Broader Impacts:

Related Links:
Flora of lake Moldino (Tver region) environs

1 - Encyclopedia of Life
2 - Moscow South West High School

Keywords:
morphology
herbarization
taxonomy.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 17
Location: 551A/Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Time: 3:45 PM
Number: 17009
Abstract ID:773