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| Research article summary (published 16 Dec 2009): |
Seeing the forest with the leaves - clues to canopy placement from leaf fossil size and venation characteristics.
Full Abstract
Although a variety of leaf characteristics appear to be induced by light environment during development, analysis of ontogenetic changes in living broad leaved trees has suggested that a number of other traits also lumped into the classic 'sun' versus 'shade' morphological distinctions, including leaf size, shape, and vein density, are instead controlled largely by local hydraulic environment within the tree canopy. The regularity in how these traits vary with canopy placement suggests a method for addressing a classic paleobotanical quandary: the stature of the source plant - from herb or shrub to canopy tree - is typically unknown for leaf fossils. The study of Ginkgo here complements previous work on Quercus that indicated that leaves throughout the crown are identical in size and venation at the time of bud break and that morphological adaptation to the local microenvironment takes place largely during the expansion phase after the determination of the vascular architecture is complete. Hence, variation in vein density does not reflect differential vein production so much as the distortion of similar vein networks over different final surface areas driven by variation in local hydraulic supply during expansion. Unlike the diffusely growing leaves of the angiosperm, Quercus, the marginally growing leaves of Ginkgo do show some potential for differential vein production, but expansion effects still dominate. The approach suggested here may prove useful for assessing the likelihood that two distinct fossil morphospecies actually represent leaves of the same plant and to gather information concerning canopy structure from disarticulated leaves.
Author information
Author/s: Boyce, C K (CK);
Affiliation: Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. ckboyce(-atsign-)uchicago.edu
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article
Journal: Geobiology (Geobiology), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2009-Mar; vol 7 (issue 2) : pp 192-9
Dates: Created 2009/04/02; Completed 2009/05/04;
PMID: 19207570, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 5/4/2009, IMS Date: 04 May 2009 00:00:00)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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