A contribution to distinguishing cereal from wild grass pollen grains by LM and SEM

Köhler, Egon; Lange, Elsbeth

doi:10.1080/00173137909424973

Cited by 89 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…This has been a significant barrier to the classification of grass pollen [5,13,14]. For example, the patterns of grass pollen surface ornamentation revealed by SEM have been used to define morphotypes that contain many species of grass [13,14].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, palynologists have attempted to increase the taxonomic precision of grass pollen by measuring characters such as pollen grain length, grain width, pore diameter and annulus width [8][9][10][11], and by noting differences in the organization of the grass pollen exine [5,9]. High-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies have revealed a diversity of surface ornamentation patterns that may have taxonomic significance [5,[12][13][14][15][16] but are not visible when viewed using traditional light microscopy. However, exine ornamentation has not been widely used to classify grass pollen because of the difficulty in comparing the relatively small differences in surface patterning [5,13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies have revealed a diversity of surface ornamentation patterns that may have taxonomic significance [5,[12][13][14][15][16] but are not visible when viewed using traditional light microscopy. However, exine ornamentation has not been widely used to classify grass pollen because of the difficulty in comparing the relatively small differences in surface patterning [5,13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Classification of grass pollen through the quantitative analysis of surface ornamentation and texture

et al. 2013

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Taxonomic identification of pollen and spores uses inherently qualitative descriptions of morphology. Consequently, identifications are restricted to categories that can be reliably classified by multiple analysts, resulting in the coarse taxonomic resolution of the pollen and spore record. Grass pollen represents an archetypal example; it is not routinely identified below family level. To address this issue, we developed quantitative morphometric methods to characterize surface ornamentation and classify grass pollen grains. This produces a means of quantifying morphological features that are traditionally described qualitatively. We used scanning electron microscopy to image 240 specimens of pollen from 12 species within the grass family (Poaceae). We classified these species by developing algorithmic features that quantify the size and density of sculptural elements on the pollen surface, and measure the complexity of the ornamentation they form. These features yielded a classification accuracy of 77.5%. In comparison, a texture descriptor based on modelling the statistical distribution of brightness values in image patches yielded a classification accuracy of 85.8%, and seven human subjects achieved accuracies between 68.33 and 81.67%. The algorithmic features we developed directly relate to biologically meaningful features of grass pollen morphology, and could facilitate direct interpretation of unsupervised classification results from fossil material.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Classification of grass pollen through the quantitative analysis of surface ornamentation and texture

et al. 2013

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“…Species of the mixed group can be identified by observing the pattern of the columellae (Beug 2004). The fine sculpture of the exine has also been used for the distinction between cereals and wild grasses (Köhler and Lange 1979). However, thresholds in parameter size differ between the studies and no definite criteria for discrimination emerge which could be useful for all study areas.…”

Section: Morphological Differentiation Of Pollen Grainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Poaceae pollen grain size as a tool to distinguish past grasslands in South America: a new methodological approach

Schüler

Behling

2010

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Despite the dominance of grasslands during the last glacial period, especially in South America, the highly uniform morphology of Poaceae pollen grains has so far allowed only very few palynological studies based on Poaceae pollen. In our study we compare two methods of distinguishing between South American grassland ecosystems based on quantitative morphology of Poaceae pollen grains. We investigated data sets from Páramo in southern Ecuador, Campos de Altitude and Campos in south-eastern and southern Brazil as well as data sets from the Pampa in Argentina by measuring the pollen grain length, grain width, pore diameter and annulus width. Firstly we investigated the potential influence of chemical treatment of pollen grains on pollen grain size as well as the measurement setting for defining the boundary conditions for using Poaceae pollen grains in a palaeoecological investigation. Finally the measured pollen grain parameters were analyzed by comparison of average grain length using statistical tests. This approach reveals highly significant differences in average grain size between all grassland ecosystems. Assuming that a certain grain size range can be assigned to a certain Poaceae taxon, conclusions about differences and similarities in taxa composition can be derived. We used two methods of multivariate data analysis. One uses the pollen grain parameters directly for a Principle Component Analysis (PCA). The other is an already established method in grassland ecology which defines parameter based pollen grain types to investigate similarities between grassland ecosystems. Both approaches confirm the results of the grain length analysis. In this work we demonstrate that the method we developed has the potential to provide acquisition of so far inaccessible information on spatial and temporal patterns and dynamics of South American grasslands.

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“…Stipa/Achnatherum in larger size, annulus presence and the microechinate-microrugulate sculpture. These features are common in several extant genera of Poaceae (Köhler & Lange, 1979;Page, 1978). The here depicted specimen of this rare pollen type shows pale staining and no cellular content.…”

Section: Ephedra Spmentioning

confidence: 99%

A combined light and scanning electron microscopy study

Bouchal

Zetter

Denk

2016

Grana

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The uppermost Eocene Florissant Formation, Rocky Mountains, Colorado, has yielded numerous insect, vertebrate, and plant fossils. Three previous comprehensive palynological studies investigated sections of lacustrine deposits of the Florissant Formation and documented the response of plant communities to volcanic eruptive phases but overall found little change in plant composition throughout the investigated sections. These studies reported up to 150 pollen and spore phenotypes. In the present paper we used a taxonomic approach to the investigation of dispersed pollen and spores of the Florissant Formation. Sediment samples from the shale units containing macrofossils were investigated using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The general picture of the palynoflora is in agreement with previous studies. However, the combined LM and SEM investigation provides important complementary information to previous LM studies. While a fairly large amount of previous pollen determinations could be confirmed, the purported taxonomic affinities of several pollen phenotypes need to be revised. For example, pollen referred to as Podocarpus or Podocarpidites sp. belongs to the Pinaceae Cathaya, Tetracentron). In general, SEM investigations complement the LM palynological studies and improve the identification of dispersed pollen and spores and enable integration of data from dispersed fossil pollen into a wide range of comparative morphological, taxonomic, evolutionary, biogeographic, and phylogenetic studies.

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A contribution to distinguishing cereal from wild grass pollen grains by LM and SEM

Cited by 89 publications

References 9 publications

Classification of grass pollen through the quantitative analysis of surface ornamentation and texture

Classification of grass pollen through the quantitative analysis of surface ornamentation and texture

Poaceae pollen grain size as a tool to distinguish past grasslands in South America: a new methodological approach

A combined light and scanning electron microscopy study

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