Tree Rings And Climate

Many plants interact with carnivores as an indirect defence against herbivores. The release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the secretion of extrafloral nectar (EFN) are induced by insect feeding, a response that is mediated by the plant hormone, jasmonic acid. Although VOCs mainly attract predatory mites and parasitic wasps, while EFN mainly attracts ants, many more animal-plant interactions are influenced by these two traits. Other traits involved in defensive tritrophic interactions are cellular food bodies and domatia, which serve the nutrition and housing of predators. They are not known to respond to herbivory, while food body production can be induced by the presence of the mutualists. Interactions among the different defensive traits, and between them and other biotic and abiotic factors exist on the genetic, physiological, and ecological levels, but so far remain understudied. Indirect defences are increasingly being discussed as an environmentally-friendly crop protection strategy, but much more knowledge on their fitness effects under certain environmental conditions is required before we can understand their ecological and evolutionary relevance, and before tritrophic interactions can serve as a reliable tool in agronomy.

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02330.x

Indirect defence via tritrophic interactions.

Anatomy of the Dicotyledons

Edition accompagnee de planches gravees, representant les types de tous les genres, les caracteres distinctifs des divers groupes et les modifications de structure sur lesquelles repose cette classification

Le Règne animal distribué d'après son organisation, pour servir de base à l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction à l'anatomie comparée. Les arachnides. Atlas

Often, biogeography is applied only as a narrative addition to phylogenetic studies and lacks scientific rigour. However, if research questions are framed as hypotheses, biogeographical scenarios become testable. In this review, we explain some problems with narrative biogeography and show how the use of explicit hypotheses is changing understanding of how organisms came to be distributed as they are. Developing synergies between biogeography, ecology, molecular dating and palaeontology are providing novel data and hypothesis-testing opportunities. New approaches are challenging the classic ‘Gondwana’ paradigm and a more complicated history of the Southern Hemisphere is emerging, involving not only general drivers such as continental drift and niche conservatism, but also drowning and re-emergence of landmasses, biotic turnover and long-distance colonization.

/pdf/hypothesis-testing-in-biogeography-56uysvjexb.pdf

Hypothesis testing in biogeography

Fossil leaves of two Early Miocene orchids (Dendrobium and Earina) are reported from New Zealand. The distinctive, raised tetra- to cyclocytic stomatal subsidiary cells of Earina and characteristic papilla-like absorbing glands and "ringed" guard cells of Dendrobium support the placement of the fossils into these genera. These therefore represent the first Orchidaceae macrofossils with cuticular preservation, the oldest records for subfamily Epidendroideae, as well as the first New Zealand and southern hemisphere fossil records for Orchidaceae. These taxa belong in basal clades to the Vandeae/Cymbideae or Epidendreae (Earina) and the Australasian clade of Dendrobium sensu lato. This phylogenetic placement demonstrates expansion of epiphytic orchids into Zealandia by the mid-Cenozoic and an important role for southern continents in the diversification of Orchidaceae.

https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.3732/ajb.0800269

Earliest orchid macrofossils: Early Miocene Dendrobium and Earina (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae) from New Zealand

The modern New Zealand flora has a relatively low number of families and genera in relation to land area, but well-preserved macrofossils and pollen from three sites in southern New Zealand suggest that the floras in Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene times were much more diverse at the generic level. At Pikopiko, Southland, a late Eocene in situ forest with fern understory was dominated by conifers, Casuarinaceae, Lauraceae, Nothofagus, Proteaceae, and mesothermal angiosperms including palms (aff. Calamus), Sapindaceae: Cupaniae and Picrodendraceae. At Newvale Mine, Southland, a leaf bed within a thick lignite seam represents leaf fossils preserved in a late Oligocene oligotrophic bog. This site demonstrates that Agathis, Dacrycarpus, Dacrydium, Halocarpus, Microcachrys, Podocarpus and Phyllocladus coexisted with diverse angiosperms including Nothofagus, Gymnostoma, Cunoniaceae, Ericaceae, Sapindaceae and several Proteaceae. Pollen data add Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae and Rubiaceae to the flora. At Foulden Maar, Otago, mummified leaves and flowers, including several with in situ pollen, demonstrate the existence of a diverse flora surrounding an Early Miocene lake. This site contains numerous monocot macrofossils including Astelia, Cordyline, Ripogonum and Typha, as well as the oldest fossils known for Orchidaceae and Luzuriagaceae. This flora was dominated by Lauraceae with affinities to Cryptocarya and Litsea, but other families include Araliaceae, Cunoniaceae, Elaeocarpaceae, Euphorbiaceae sensu lato, Menispermaceae, Myrsinaceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae, Proteaceae and Sterculiaceae. Many ferns, conifers, and Nothofagus are from lineages with Gondwanan ancestors, whereas other taxa show links to Australia (e.g., Gyrostemonaceae), New Caledonia (e.g., Beauprea) and South America (e.g., Luzuriaga, Fuchsia). Many of these taxa are now extinct in New Zealand, and therefore indicate much wider biogeographic ranges for many families and genera in the past.

New Zealand Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene Macrofossil and Pollen Records and Modern Plant Distributions in the Southern Hemisphere

Lauraceae from rainforest surrounding an early Miocene maar lake, Otago, southern New Zealand

The antiquity of lineages in the extant indigenous flora of New Zealand is controversial, and plant macrofossils provide important evidence for testing hypotheses for in situ survival of ancient lineages or their geologically recent arrival by longdistance dispersal. Cuticle analysis of organically preserved leaf fossils confirms the presence of Agathis in New Zealand since at least the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. Well‐preserved Agathis foliage occurs in a leaf litter bed within a thick seam of resiniferous lignite in the middle Gore Lignite Measures, Newvale Mine, Waimumu, Southland. The Agathis leaf fossils have some affinities with extant Agathis australis.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00288250709509739

Jennifer M. Bannister

Papers

Earliest orchid macrofossils: Early Miocene Dendrobium and Earina (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae) from New Zealand

New Zealand Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene Macrofossil and Pollen Records and Modern Plant Distributions in the Southern Hemisphere

Lauraceae from rainforest surrounding an early Miocene maar lake, Otago, southern New Zealand

Late Oligocene‐Early Miocene leaf macrofossils confirm a long history of Agathis in New Zealand

Palynology of the early Miocene Foulden Maar, Otago, New Zealand: Diversity following destruction