The phytoliths of Naachtun (Petén, Guatemala): Development of a modern reference for the characterization of plant communities in the Maya Tropical Lowlands

Testé, Marc; Garnier, Aline; Limondin-Lozouët, Nicole; Oxlaj, Enecon; Castanet, Cyril; Purdue, Louise; Lemonnier, Éva; Nondédéo, Philippe

doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2019.104130

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…However, some Brassicaceae [33] (mostly herbaceous) also have brachiate epidermal hairs that needs to be carefully distinguished from of those astrosclereids. Sclereid phytoliths have been observed in broad-leaf trees [22,27,31,34,36,76] and show low production in other plants; hence, they are used as a proxy for broad-leaf trees in vegetation reconstructions [109].…”

Section: Leaves Of Broad-leaf Treesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytoliths from Woody Plants: A Review

Xie

2022

Diversity

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Phytoliths are efficient proxies in archaeology, plant taxonomy, palaeoenvironment, and palaeoecology reconstruction, the research of which has been developing rapidly in recent years. Phytolith morphology is the basis of phytolith research. The morphological identification and classification of grass phytoliths are clear and detailed enough for application. However, the morphology of phytoliths from woody plants is ambiguous and unsystematic because of the relatively rare research on modern phytoliths and consequently seldom used in archaeology and palaeoenvironment reconstruction. This paper summarizes and concludes the research of woody phytolith morphology in the past decades. Previous studies show that palms and conifers produce some diagnostic phytoliths for identification and classification. There is progress in micromorphology, morphometry, and taxonomic identification of palms and conifers phytoliths. The phytolith morphology of broad-leaved trees is summarized according to produced parts of phytoliths in plants. The potential of further classification for broad-leaved phytoliths was discussed.

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Section: Leaves Of Broad-leaf Treesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytoliths from Woody Plants: A Review

Xie

2022

Diversity

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“…[52] found that spheroidal phytoliths in the roots of the date palm look like echinates in the aerial parts. Six ecosystems were differentiated by soil phytolith assemblages in the ancient Maya tropical lowlands [53]. [54] found that soil micro aggregates which was the topsoil size fraction account for over 60 percent of the phytoliths and control bioavailable Si as phytoliths protect the element from rapid dissolution and release.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The silica microfossil record which was taken from the sedimentary sequence of the Pleistocene/Holocene period from the Eastern Chaco Region showed that the most abundant microfossils were phytoliths [57]. In recent years, phytoliths have been used as palaeoenvironment, archaeological proxies and for plant-people relationships [42,53,[57][58][59][60][61]. However, phytolith work is labor-intensive and expensive like most archaeobotanical and paleoenvironmental work [62].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytolith profile of Acrachne racemosa (B. Heyne ex Roem. & Schult.) Ohwi (Cynodonteae, Chloridoideae, Poaceae)

et al. 2022

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Acrachne racemosa (B. Heyne. ex Roem. & Schult.) Ohwi of the subfamily Chloridoideae of the family Poaceae is an economically important grass species. Grasses are characterized by deposits of silica in the cells or tissues in the form of phytoliths which protect them from various types of biotic and abiotic stresses. Owing to variable shape and specificity of morphotypes, phytolith helps in taxonomical studies, reconstruction of paleoenvironments and prediction of climate changes. The present study focussed on developing a phytolith profile of the selected species. For isolation of phytolith, Dry Ashing Method was employed, and by epidermal peeling, in-situ location of phytoliths was deciphered. In the present study, silica percentage was studied from different parts of the plant and the maximum amount was found in the leaf. Frequency and morphometric data of phytolith morphotypes from different parts of the plants were also collected and analyzed. The strongest correlation was found between phytolith types of root and culm by Pearson’s correlation coefficient supported by cluster analysis. The saddle type of phytoliths had the highest frequency in the leaf; other types of phytoliths in different parts of the plant were bilobate, blocky types, elongate types, trapezoids, triangular, cross, sinuate elongate, tabular types, globular types. Functional groups and amorphous polymorphic phases of silica were also analyzed by FTIR and XRD. It was concluded that phytolith types are controlled by parts of plant body and by anatomical and environmental factors.

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“…These correlations likely reflect differential adaptations among species to the variety of topographic settings and soil characteristics in forest landscapes (e.g., Brenes-Arguedas et al, 2008;Palmiotto et al, 2004). Several studies in the Maya Lowlands have described gradients of tree species on the topographic continuum but did not quantitatively link tree and environmental data (Furley and Newey, 1979;Lambert and Arnason, 1978;Lundell, 1937;Shepherd, 1975;Testé et al, 2020;Wright et al, 1959). For the Lowlands, we know of just three previous multivariate studies that do link these data, one of them unpublished (Hightower, 2012;Schulze and Whitacre, 1999;White and Hood, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree species on environmental gradients in subtropical forest of northwest Belize, in the Maya Lowlands

Ward¹,

Brokaw

Walling

et al. 2022

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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We studied species composition and spatial distributions of tree species, and the underlying topography and soil, in subtropical forests of northwest Belize, a region in the Maya Lowlands. Our goal was to learn how much the spatial distributions of species vary and are predictable over the landscape. The study was done in old-growth, subtropical moist forest on limestone-derived topography and soil. We identified to species all trees ≥10 cm DBH in 209 400-m2 plots. For each plot, we characterized topographic setting and analyzed soil nutrients and texture. We recorded 3,984 individual trees of ∼140 tree species and used the 3,775 individuals of the 69 species occurring in ≥5 plots in multivariate analyses, including Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS). NMS showed that 73% of the variation in species composition per plot was associated with the first three ordination axes. Sixteen out of the 34 quantitative variables we measured were correlated at R 2 > 10% with the axes. Of the categorical variables, Topographic Class was strongly associated with species composition, and USDA Texture Class less so. Of the 69 focal tree species, the abundances of 21 were correlated at R 2 > 10% with one or more axes of the NMS ordination. Importantly, these 21 species accounted for 68% of all individual trees sampled in the 209 plots. Twenty-three species were indicators of particular topographic and soil classes. We conclude that patterns of tree species distribution are strongly and predictably associated with different topographic and soil conditions in this landscape. In the past, the ancient Maya could have used this type of predictable plant–soil relationship to optimize their agriculture. In the future, our results are a basis for predicting local shifts in tree species distributions due to climate change.

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The phytoliths of Naachtun (Petén, Guatemala): Development of a modern reference for the characterization of plant communities in the Maya Tropical Lowlands

Cited by 12 publications

References 70 publications

Phytoliths from Woody Plants: A Review

Phytoliths from Woody Plants: A Review

Phytolith profile of Acrachne racemosa (B. Heyne ex Roem. & Schult.) Ohwi (Cynodonteae, Chloridoideae, Poaceae)

Tree species on environmental gradients in subtropical forest of northwest Belize, in the Maya Lowlands

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