Palm phytoliths of mid-elevation Andean forests

Seringe N. Huisman, M. F. Raczka, Crystal N.H. McMichael*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Palms are one of the most common tropical plant groups. They are widespread across lowland tropical forests, but many are found in higher altitudes have more constrained environmental ranges. The limited range of these species makes them particularly useful in paleoecological and paleoclimate reconstructions. Palms produce phytoliths, or silica structures, which are found in their vegetative parts (e.g., wood, leaves, etc.). Recent research has shown that several palms in the lowland tropical forests produce phytoliths that are diagnostic to the sub-family or genus-level. Here we characterize Andean palm phytoliths, and determine whether many of these species can also be identified by their silica structures. All of our sampled Andean palm species produced phytoliths, and we were able to characterize several previously unclassified morphotypes. Some species contained unique phytoliths that did not occur in other species, particularly Ceroxylon alpinium, which is indicative of specific climatic conditions. The differences in the morphologies of the Andean species indicate that palm phytolith analysis is particularly useful in paleoecological reconstructions. Future phytolith analyses will allow researchers to track how these palm species with limited environmental ranges have migrated up and down the Andean slopes as a result of past climatic change. The phytolith analyses can track local-scale vegetation dynamics, whereas pollen, which is commonly used in paleoecological reconstructions, reflects regional-scale vegetation change.

Original languageEnglish
Article number193
JournalFrontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Volume6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Nov 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands, for providing the herbarium material. We also thank Annemarie Philip for phytolith sample preparation, and Jan van Arkel and Britte Heijink for the phytolith photographs. This research was part of the Masters Programme in the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics at the University of Amsterdam. The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) award ALWOP.322 to CM also provided partial funding

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Huisman, Raczka and McMichael.

Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Andean ecosystems
  • Arecaceae
  • Ceroxylon
  • Dictyocaryum
  • Paleoecology
  • Palms
  • Phytoliths

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