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

USDA PLANTS Database

http://plants.usda.gov/

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.