Field Work, Floras, Monographs, andother Resources for Plant Systematics

Spring 2010

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

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

Leaves in silica gelfor DNA extraction

Buds and leaves preservedIn alcohol for anatomical study

Appendix Two, Figures 1 and 2

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~herbarium/index.html

Ada Hayden Herbarium Iowa State University

USDA PLANTS Database

http://plants.usda.gov/

Chusquea latifolia(Colombia)

Chusquea serpens(Costa Rica)

Collections of Chusquea serpens from Costa Rica

Map of C. latifolia

strict consensus of 3,425 trees

rpl16 intron sequence data (gaps removed, 978 characters)and binary indel data (20 characters)

Hillcane(Arundinaria appalachiana)

Writing Keys

• Parallel information for all taxa is needed; a table of taxa by characters is a good way to start

• Dichotomous keys (still the most widely available) require mutually exclusive choices

• Characters need to be precisely defined and use measurements instead of general terms like “small” and “large”

Writing Keys cont’d.

• Use characters that are as easily available/observable as possible

• Couplets start with a noun followed by adjectives

• Leads should be strictly parallel and use positive contrasting conditions

• Keys do not need to track phylogeny, they simply need to discriminate among the taxa

Appendix Two, Figure 3

http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/research/iowagrasses/

Grasses of Iowa

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~herbarium/index.html

Ada Hayden Herbarium Iowa State University

Flora of North America

http://www.fna.org/