Morphological characteristics of phytoliths from representative conifers in China

An, Xiaohong

doi:10.1016/j.palwor.2016.01.002

Cited by 32 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In contrast, coniferous trees, especially Pinaceae, produce several unique morphotypes and thus have received greater research attention (Carnellia et al . ; An ). In the Mediterranean region and Russia, blocky scrobiculate (spherical‐with‐sockets) phytoliths from conifers can be used to distinguish forest from steppe (Delhon et al .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, some morphotypes are exclusive to broadleaved trees (Bozarth 1993), and they may aid the interpretation of fossil phytolith assemblages. In contrast, coniferous trees, especially Pinaceae, produce several unique morphotypes and thus have received greater research attention (Carnellia et al 2004;An 2016). In the Mediterranean region and Russia, blocky scrobiculate (spherical-with-sockets) phytoliths from conifers can be used to distinguish forest from steppe (Delhon et al 2003;Silantyeva et al 2018) and the abundance of asterosclereid phytoliths enabled Douglas fir forest and Garryoak savannah habitats in Canada to be distinguished (McCune & Pellatt 2013).…”

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Assessing modern arboreal phytolith sensitivity to vegetation variations in temperate forest regions

Gao

Jie

et al. 2019

Boreas

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To assess the reliability of arboreal phytoliths for differentiating vegetation types in temperate forest regions, we systematically analysed arboreal leaf phytoliths from 72 arboreal plants and 49 modern soils from three forest types in northeast China. The arboreal leaf phytolith production and morphotypes were highly variable between species. The arboreal leaf phytolith assemblages could clearly distinguish between broadleaf and coniferous species, but they were much less successful in differentiating broadleaved trees into subtaxa. Coniferous leaf morphotypes were successfully used to differentiate coniferous trees into families and subtaxa, especially in the Pinaceae. Two diagnostic broadleaved and six coniferous phytolith morphotypes were recognized within the modern soil beneath forest ecosystems. These arboreal phytoliths comprised up to 10–15% of the total soil phytoliths, and were dominated by coniferous types. Arboreal phytolith concentrations and phytolith assemblages in the soils fluctuated substantially amongst the three forest types. Soil arboreal phytolith assemblages were successfully used to differentiate samples from Larix mixed forest, broadleaf forest and Pinus koraiensis mixed forest. In addition, the arboreal index quantitatively distinguished the three forest types, with B/BE values <0.4 for Larix mixed forest samples, values from 0.4 to 0.6 for broadleaf forest samples, and values from 0.6 to 0.9 for P. koraiensis mixed forest. Thus, our surface soil arboreal phytolith assemblages and arboreal index are a useful reference for differentiating forest ecotypes, and they also provide reliable analogues for arboreal phytoliths from palaeoecological contexts in temperate forest regions.

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Assessing modern arboreal phytolith sensitivity to vegetation variations in temperate forest regions

Gao

Jie

et al. 2019

Boreas

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“…Tabular elongate dendritic, elongate cavate, elongate tabular, and elongate dendriform types were recovered mainly from woody plants, especially coniferous trees, and the elongate cavate type was unique to Larix (Carnelli et al . ; An ). The other three elongate morphotypes, elongate sinuate, elongate psilate and elongate irregular, were frequently present in herbaceous and woody plants.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the non‐diagnostic elongate types, in our data set the frequency of morphotypes including elongate tabular, elongate cavate, tabular elongate dendritic, elongate cavate terminal and elongate sinuate, exhibit roughly similar trends in different vegetation types, and most of these elongate types originate from woody plants (Carnelli et al . ; An ). The highest frequencies occur in forest samples, and the lowest in grassland samples, with intermediate values in samples from the forest−grassland ecotone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytolith reference study for identifying vegetation changes in the forest−grassland region of northeast China

Gao

Jie

Wang

et al. 2017

Boreas

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To provide a basis for tracing changes in vegetation and tree cover density, we studied the phytoliths of 129 common temperate plant species, and extracted the phytoliths from 75 surface soil samples from sites in grassland, forest−grassland ecotone and forest habitats in northeast China. From the analysis of shapes and morphological parameters of the plant samples, we developed a reference data set of herbaceous and woody phytoliths, and subsequently identified 21 herbaceous and 13 woody phytolith types in the surface soil samples. To test the reliability of soil phytolith analysis for distinguishing forest, grassland and the forest−grassland ecotone, we used principal components analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA) to summarize the soil phytolith assemblage characteristics of the different ecosystems. The results show that the grassland and forest samples are characterized by abundant herbaceous and woody phytoliths, respectively; and that forest−grassland ecotone habitats are characterized by low abundances of blocky polyhedral, multifaceted epidermal and sclereid phytoliths. In general, the surface soil phytolith assemblages can reliably differentiate samples from forest, grassland and the forest−grassland ecotone, with up to 92% of the samples classified correctly. We also tested the reliability of phytolith indices (W/G (1), W/G (2), W/G (3)) for discriminating different vegetation types in our study area, and found that W/G (2) was the most reliable index and corresponded well with the species inventory data. The W/G values for grassland ranged from 0 to 0.3, from 0.3 to 0.6 for the forest−grassland ecotone, and exceeded 0.6 for forest. We conclude that our study provides reliable analogues for phytolith assemblages from palaeoecological contexts, which can be used to reconstruct shifts in forest−grassland ecotones and vegetation succession in temperate areas.

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“…It is thought that for many communities that are stable an assemblage would develop over a period of a few decades to about a century (Blinnikov et al, 2012). Although distinct phytoliths (plant opal or hydrogenated silica bodies) form in many taxa (Wallis, 2003;Katz, 2014;2015;An, 2016), the most abundant and best studied are those produced in grasses (Poaceae) (Golyeva, 2001(Golyeva, , 2007Madella et al, 2005;Piperno, 2006;Strömberg, 2011;Blinnikov et al, 2013) and some other monocots (Ollendorf, 1992;Benvenuto et al, 2015;Bobrov et al, 2016;Stevanato et al, 2019). Many recent studies focus on grasses primarily (Kiseleva, 2006;Fredlund, Tieszen, 1994;Carnelli et al, 2001;Piperno, 2006;Blinnikov et al, 2013;Shakoor, Bhat, 2014;Sperankaya et al, 2018;Lada, Gavrilov, 2016;Neumann et al, 2017), however, there is a constant need to further refine our understanding of phytolith production in various plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytolith assemblages in modern top soils under plant communities of Northern and Western Altay, Russia

Solomonova¹,

Blinnikov²,

Speranskaja³

et al. 2019

Ukr J Ecol

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We investigated 120 assemblages of phytoliths from modern top soils of 40 different plant communities of Northern and Western Altay region of Russia. The samples were collected from elevations between 360 m and 2360 m above sea level. Using statistical analyses, it was discovered that many communities produce sufficiently distinct assemblages based on standard morphotypes. Specifically we studied 6 kinds of forests (larch, spruce, fir, pine, cedar pine and birch-dominated), 3 kinds of steppes (true, meadow and petrophytic), 5 kinds of meadows (steppe-like, upland dry, wet floodplain, subalpine, alpine), alpine tundra, and mountain shrubland communities. The communities were not evenly sampled, with more redundancy in some types than in others. Using PCA, it was possible to reveal the few morphotypes most responsible for distinguishing different communities, e.g., low conical rondels, rondel sum, long cell sum, lanceolate cells with massive base, and bulliform cell sum.

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Morphological characteristics of phytoliths from representative conifers in China

Cited by 32 publications

References 25 publications

Assessing modern arboreal phytolith sensitivity to vegetation variations in temperate forest regions

Assessing modern arboreal phytolith sensitivity to vegetation variations in temperate forest regions

Phytolith reference study for identifying vegetation changes in the forest−grassland region of northeast China

Phytolith assemblages in modern top soils under plant communities of Northern and Western Altay, Russia

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