| 1. |
- Adroit, Benjamin, et al.
(författare)
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Are morphological characteristics of Parrotia (Hamamelidaceae) pollen species diagnostic?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. - Amsterdam : Elsevier BV. - 0034-6667 .- 1879-0615. ; 307, s. 104776-104776
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Parrotia persica is one of the most notable endemic relict tree species growing in the Hyrcanian forest at the southern Caspian Sea. The recent discovery of sibling species Parrotia subaequalis, occurring in the temperate forests of south-eastern China, offers the opportunity to compare their morphology and ecological preferences and to dig deeper into the paleophytogeographic history of the genus from a perspective. Since pollen morphology of these species would be essential to unravel the origin and evolution of these Arcto-Tertiary species, the present study aimed to investigate whether it is possible to segregate pollen from these two species. Therefore, a detailed combined light- and scanning electron microscopy-based pollen-analysis of each taxon was conducted, the pollen was described, measured, and compared using statistical approaches and principal component analyses to establish unbiased results. The correlation-based principal component analysis achieved for each species shows an overall good superposition of pollen grains measured in equatorial and polar views in the first principal plane, revealing that the P. persica pollen is morphometrically as homogeneous as that of P. subaequalis. Then, the significant difference, mainly driven by lumen density, has been highlighted between the two species. Ultimately, the cross-validation of the resulting two-species linear discriminants classifier shows that based upon this reference dataset, (sub)fossil pollen grain can now be confidently assigned to either of the two species with an 85.8% correct-assignment rate. This opens new doors in the affiliation of fossil Parrotia pollen and suggests that previous pollen records need to be revised.
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| 2. |
- Adroit, Benjamin, et al.
(författare)
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Patterns of insect damage types reflect complex environmental signal in Miocene forest biomes of Central Europe and the Mediterranean
- 2021
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Ingår i: Global and Planetary Change. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0921-8181 .- 1872-6364. ; 199
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecosystems are defined by the community of living organisms and how they interact together and with theirenvironment. Insects and plants are key taxa in terrestrial ecosystems and their network determines the trophicstructure of the environment. However, what drives the interactions between plants and insects in modern andfossil ecosystems is not well understood. In this study, we analyzed insect damage richness and frequency in 5000 fossil leaves deposited during the early Miocene at 20–17 Ma along a latitudinal gradient from Europe (twolocalities in Czech Republic) to Turkey (one locality) in a temperate climate setting. Damage frequency wasmainly linked with abiotic factors (temperature, precipitation seasonality) whereas damage richness was mainlylinked with biotic factors (plant richness, biome). Univariate analysis of insect damage types consistently suggested closer trophic similarity between the Mediterranean and either the one or the other Central European plant assemblage. In contrast, multivariate analysis of all insect damage types indicated closer similarity between the two Central European sites highlighting the importance of biogeographic legacy and geographic closeness to the plant-insect interaction patterns. Our results underscore the high complexity of the herbivory network andcall for careful interpretations of plant-insect interaction patterns in palaeoecological studies. Finally, comparing the trophic similarity between different localities using total evidence plots as done in this work might be apromising complementary method in comparative studies of plant-insect interactions.
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| 3. |
- Hazra, Taposhi, et al.
(författare)
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Marginal leaf galls on Pliocene leaves from India indicate mutualistic behavior between Ipomoea plants and Eriophyidae mites
- 2023
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report a new type of fossil margin galls arranged in a linear series on dicot leaf impressions from the latest Neogene (Pliocene) sediments of the Chotanagpur Plateau, Jharkhand, eastern India. We collected ca. 1500 impression and compression leaf fossils, of which 1080 samples bear arthropod damage referable to 37 different damage types (DT) in the ‘Guide to Insect (and Other) Damage Types in Compressed Plant Fossils’. A few leaf samples identified as Ipomoea L. (Convolvulaceae) have specific margin galls that do not match any galling DT previously described. This type of galling is characterized by small, linearly arranged, irregular, sessile, sub-globose, solitary, indehiscent, solid pouch-galls with irregular ostioles. The probable damage inducers of the present galling of the foliar margin might be members of Eriophyidae (Acari). The new type of gall suggests that marginal gall-inducing mites on leaves of Ipomoea did not change their host preference at the genus level since the Pliocene. The development of marginal leaf galling in Ipomoea is linked to extrafloral nectaries that do not offer protection against arthropod galling but indirectly protect the plant against herbivory from large mammals.
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| 4. |
- Hazra, Taposhi, et al.
(författare)
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New discovery of rare insect damage in the Pliocene of India reinforces the biogeographic history of Eurasian ecosystems
- 2022
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Ingår i: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0034-6667 .- 1879-0615. ; 298, s. 104589-104589
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant–insect interactions in the fossil record are, as yet, sparsely known and understudied. Here, we document evidence of a new type of insect skeletonization on Abroma augustum (L.) L. f. (Malvaceae) leaf remains fromthe latest Neogene (Pliocene) sediments of Chotanagpur plateau, Jharkhand, eastern India. This unique skeletonization feeding trace attributable to herbivorous insects occurs all over the surfaces of our recovered Pliocene leaf remains. In the skeletonized area, the interveinal tissues are completely removed leaving behind only the tough leaf veins. This type of insect feeding behaviour is documented for the first time on Indian Cenozoic leaf remains. Based on published data, as well as our survey of modern forests adjacent to the fossil locality, we suggest that probable damage inducers of this skeletonization on Abroma Jacq. fossil leaves might be Chrysomelid (Coleopteran) beetles. This finding also reveals that specific insect feeding damage, such as the one presented here, can reveal similarity of environments despite the difference of plant species observed. Such results strengthen the importance of using plant–insect interactions on leaves as a complementary proxy to others revealing paleoenvironmental conditions.
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