Occurrence, Composition and Formation of Ruppia, Widgeon Grass, balls in Saskatchewan Lakes

Randy W. Olson; Josef K. Schmutz; Theodore Hammer

doi:10.22621/cfn.v119i1.89

Occurrence, Composition and Formation of Ruppia, Widgeon Grass, balls in Saskatchewan Lakes

The Canadian Field-Naturalist ◽

10.22621/cfn.v119i1.89 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 119 (1) ◽

pp. 114 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Randy W. Olson ◽

Josef K. Schmutz ◽

Theodore Hammer

Keyword(s):

Plant Material ◽

Saline Lake ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

Ruppia Maritima ◽

Washing Machine ◽

Invertebrate Animal ◽

Turtle Grass ◽

Aquatic Vascular Plant ◽

Near Shore

Widgeon Grass (Ruppia maritima) is an aquatic vascular plant (Ruppiaceae) which has been the source for rare balls of plant material found at the shores of lakes on four continents. In North America, the lakes involved were in North Dakota, Oregon, and now northern and southern Saskatchewan. The formation of the balls has not been observed in nature, but similar balls have been produced in other studies with Posidonia or Turtle Grass (Hydrocharitaceae) fibers under the wavelike action in a washing machine. Our samples are from a saline lake in southern Saskatchewan (49°N), and an over 40-year-old sample from an unknown lake north of the boreal transition zone (52°N). Comparisons of the plant material with herbarium specimens confirm that the balls are almost entirely comprised of Ruppia maritima, with minor items including invertebrate animal parts, sand pebbles and feathers. The context in which the material was found is consistent with the proposition that they are formed by Ruppia inflorescences breaking apart, drifting to near shore due to wind and being rolled into balls by wave action.

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Microwave drying of plant material for herbarium specimens and genetic analysis

Taxon ◽

10.12705/624.33 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 62 (4) ◽

pp. 790-797 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tonya A. Lander ◽

Bernadeta Dadonaite ◽

Alex K. Monro

Keyword(s):

Genetic Analysis ◽

Plant Material ◽

Microwave Drying ◽

Herbarium Specimens

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- an aquatic vascular plant as a biological monitor for heavy metal pollution

Chemosphere ◽

10.1016/0045-6535(79)90059-6 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 125-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Sankar N. Ray ◽

Wesley J. White

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Metal Pollution ◽

Heavy Metal Pollution ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Aquatic Vascular Plant

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First inventory of vascular flora of Matokit mountain (Biokovo massif, Croatia)

Šumarski list ◽

10.31298/sl.144.5-6.3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 144 (5-6) ◽

pp. 257-268

Author(s):

Ivana Vitasović-Kosić ◽

Mara Vukojević ◽

Sandro Bogdanović

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Climate ◽

Invasive Plant ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Life Forms ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

Vascular Flora ◽

The Past ◽

Floristic Data ◽

High Influence ◽

Southern Croatia

The vascular flora of Matokit Mt (Biokovo Massif) in southern Croatia was researched in different vegetation periods from 2010-2015, and a total of 604 vascular plant taxa belonging to 86 families and 337 genera were found. The studied area has never been studied in the past and these are the first detailed floristic data about grasslands in different succession stages of Matokit Mt. Collected herbarium specimens (345 sheets) were digitalized and are available at the ZAGR Virtual Herbarium. The most dominant families were legumes (Fabaceae 9.9%), grasses (Poaceae 9.1%), daisies (Asteraceae 7.4%) and mints (Lamiaceae 6.8%). The analysis of life forms shows the dominance of hemicryptophytes (39.9%) and therophytes (26.2%) on Matokit Mt that indicates a high influence of the Mediterranean climate. A total of 36 endangered and 17 invasive plant taxa across the whole studied area were recorded. Endemic are 32 plant taxa (26 endemics in a broader sense and 6 stenoendemics) and they represent new site of Croatian flora. The occurrence of some very rare endemics (Cardamine fialae Fritsch and Erysimum croaticum Polatschek) in the flora of Matokit Mt is of special interest for the national flora.

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“X‐RAYING” HERBARIUM SPECIMENS WITH TRANSMITTED LIGHT, A NON‐DESTRUCTIVE WAY OF INVESTIGATING DRY PLANT MATERIAL

Taxon ◽

10.2307/1221915 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 549-550

Author(s):

Börge Pettersson

Keyword(s):

Plant Material ◽

Transmitted Light ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

Non Destructive

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Engaging Children with Herbarium Specimens at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew’s Science Festival

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards ◽

10.3897/biss.2.25933 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. e25933

Author(s):

Melissa Bavington

Keyword(s):

Plant Material ◽

Scientific Data ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Specimen Preparation ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

Full Time ◽

Plant Parts ◽

Herbarium Collection ◽

Herbarium Sheet ◽

Royal Botanic Gardens

The Kew and Wakehurst Science Festivals consists of five days of activities over two weekends. Workshops and tours allow visitors to engage with the scientists and their research. We designed an interactive experience, so children could understand what a herbarium sheet is and the process of making one. The Herbarium accessions an average of 30,000 specimens per year and because specimens need to have a long life and be able to withstand being handled for hundreds of years they need to be ‘mounted’ according to strict protocols and guidelines. Botanical specimens are vital to research at Kew and beyond, providing key scientific data. Once mounted onto herbarium sheets botanical specimens are added to the Herbarium and made widely available to visiting scientists and researchers. Digitising these specimens increases access further through online portals. To achieve a specimen that can be handled for many years the specimens are mounted onto archival paper, along with their labels, before being added to the collection. There are 6 members in RBG Kew’s Specimen Preparation team who work full time to prepare botanical specimens for accession into the Herbarium collection; which currently stands at 7 million specimens and the oldest dates from the 1700s. We simplified this specimen preparation process down to the basic component parts of paper, glue, plant material and pressing. Using material and tools that visitors would be able to find for themselves; art paper, child friendly glue and plant material used in flower crafts we created a hands-on experience for mounting a herbarium specimen. The Science Festival is now in its 3rd year and each year the activity has been modified based on lessons learned over the course of the festival and each year. The stall is immensely popular going from 300 participants in the first year to over 700 in 2017. In the second year we added a new dimension and allowed visitors to image the specimens they created allowing them to zoom in and see plant parts and structures in further detail to highlight the importance of digitisation. These images can be viewed on the Kew Science Flickr group.

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A practical technique for preserving specimens of duckmeal, Wolffia (Araceae)

The Canadian Field-Naturalist ◽

10.22621/cfn.v133i2.2108 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 133 (2) ◽

pp. 139

Author(s):

Daniel F. Brunton

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plant ◽

Specimen Preparation ◽

Preparation Technique ◽

Alternative Technique ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Aquatic Vascular Plant ◽

And Storage

Making identifiable herbarium vouchers of the minute aquatic vascular plant duckmeal, Wolffia (Lemnoideae; Araceae) has typically required plants to be preserved in transparent, space-consuming vials that are fragile, difficult to work with, and labourious to prepare. An alternative technique for dry-mounting Wolffia within a layer of transparent, acid-free glue presents a promising alternative. Although the largely water-filled individual plants still compress substantially, this preparation technique results in specimens that retain their colour, size, and, most important, their shape. This greatly enhances the possibility of confident identification and simplifies both specimen preparation and storage.

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The early development of nodal adventitious roots with root hairs and root hair deformations by Elodea nuttallii (Planchon) H. St. Johns

Fundamental and Applied Limnology / Archiv für Hydrobiologie ◽

10.1127/fal/2020/1332 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 194 (2) ◽

pp. 141-149

Author(s):

Susanne Halbedel ◽

Nicole Weinert

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Root Hair ◽

Adventitious Roots ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Root Hairs ◽

Coarse Grained ◽

Root Tip ◽

Elodea Nuttallii ◽

Important Species ◽

Aquatic Vascular Plant

Elodea nuttallii is a globally distributed aquatic vascular plant that provides many ecosystem services. In the sediment its roots fulfill important geochemical functions and initiate biological interactions within the rhizosphere. However, the macro-anatomy and development of its roots remained widely uncharacterized. This study aims to analyze the early morphogenesis of Elodeas roots and their general macro-anatomy. Therefore, plants free of roots were planted on two different sediment types and harvested along an individual time axis after the first roots were developed. All plants were photographed, measured and the roots were microscopically analyzed. Elodea has nodal adventitious roots, non-woody and from shoots. All roots have a root tip with a well-developed apical meristem and a root cap, an elongation zone, and a well-developed maturation zone with root hairs. Root hair deformations like swollen root hairs, swollen root hair tips, and branched root hairs most often developed when plants were grown on nutrient-poor, coarse-grained sediment. We here present a first description of the morpho- genesis and macro-anatomy of roots developed by E. nuttallii. This work will improve our understanding of this important species and foster further studies on the coupling between physiological processes, the morphogenesis, anatomy, ecosystem services, economical use, and management strategies related to E. nuttallii.

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Rising CO2 concentrations reduce nitrogen availability in alpine grasslands

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-5090 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sergey Rosbakh ◽

Karl Auerswald ◽

Peter Poschlod

Keyword(s):

Isotope Composition ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Carbon Gain ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

N Availability ◽

Alpine Grasslands ◽

Long Distance ◽

Foliar N ◽

N Assimilation

Alpine grasslands, local biodiversity hotspots with very high nature conservation and cultural value, belong to the most affected by global change ecosystems. Yet, the potential effects of others than global warming factors on alpine plant functioning is poorly understood. To address this gap, we made use of 360 herbarium specimens from nine vascular plant species collected in the Bavarian Alps, Germany, extending back 200 years to reconstruct historical changes in foliar N content and stable isotope composition (&#948;15N), indicators of plant response to long-term N atmospheric deposition and rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]). These changes were interpreted in terms of three competing hypothesis (eutrophication, oligotrophication and photorespiration), representing alternative explanations for the response of plants to changes of N and CO2 availability.Foliar &#948;15N decreased significantly over time but an explanation by an increased input of reactive N from long-distance transport (&#8217;eutrophication&#8217; hypothesis) was unlikely because foliar N contents decreased significantly as well. An increased carbon gain due to increasing [CO2] (&#8216;oligotrophication&#8217;) also was unlikely because instantaneous water use efficiency remained unchanged and indicated no increase in C gain. The detected patterns agreed well with the &#8216;photorespiration&#8217; hypothesis that biochemically links N assimilation and carbon assimilation. Increasing concentration of ambient CO2 that decreases photorespiration explained decreasing &#948;15N values (R2 = 0.84, p < 0.001) and decreasing N contents (R2 = 0.40, p < 0.036).Our results suggest that increasing [CO2] by suppressing photorespiration reduces N availability to alpine plants. These findings contradict the generally accepted assumption of negative effects of eutrophication on alpine grasslands caused by air-borne N deposition. We conclude that increasing [CO2] should be considered as alternative driver of long-term changes in alpine ecosystems, as it affects directly the plant C:N stoichiometry, a key plant trait determining several important ecosystem processes.

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Lectotype of Solidago ×niederederi (Asteraceae) selected from a recently rediscovered original material

Phytotaxa ◽

10.11646/phytotaxa.438.1.8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 438 (1) ◽

pp. 62-64

Author(s):

KATARÍNA SKOKANOVÁ ◽

PAVOL MEREĎA Jr. ◽

BARBORA ŠINGLIAROVÁ ◽

STANISLAV ŠPANIEL

Keyword(s):

Plant Material ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

Solidago Canadensis ◽

Original Material ◽

Field Margins ◽

Forest Edges ◽

Hybrid Species ◽

Living Material ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

First Time

Solidago ×niederederi Khek (1905: 22) is a hybrid between North-American S. canadensis Linnaeus (1753: 878) and European native S. virgaurea Linnaeus (1753: 880). Solidago canadensis was introduced to Europe in the 17th century (Kowarik 2003). It has spread invasively throughout Europe since the second half of the 19th century (Weber 1998), reaching, besides sites disturbed by human activity, also (semi)natural biotopes, as forest edges, abandoned meadows and field margins which are often inhabited by native S. virgaurea. Their hybrid was discovered for the first time in nature by a local schoolmaster Franz Niedereder in the area of Vorderstoder village (Austria). Niedereder sent a plant material of the assumed hybrid to Eugen Johan Khek (born in 1861, Neuhaus/Jindřichov Hradec; died in 1927, Vienna), the pharmacist and botanist who lived in Vienna since 1889 (Anonymous 1916). Khek described the hybrid species under the name S. ×niederederi in honour of his discoverer (Khek 1905). The protologue indicates that the relevant communication between Niedereder and Khek was going on between July 1900 (when they met for the first time) and February 1905 (when the hybrid’s description was published). Before its description, Khek studied the hybrid for four years and he saw a herbarium material from Niedereder as well as a living material. In the protologue, no particular herbarium specimens or illustrations had been indicated or associated with S. ×niederederi (Khek 1905).

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