Dead Leaves Research Articles

Number and morphology of tiller age groups during summer in Marandu palisadegrass pastures previously used under deferred grazing

The relative contribution of young, mature and old tillers in the canopy influences the production and structure of the pasture. The objective with this work was to evaluate the balance between tiller appearance and tiller death (BAL) during spring and early summer, the morphology and percentages of young, mature and old tillers in Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu (marandu palisadegrass) with three conditions in late winter: short (24.1 cm), tall (49.0 cm) and tall (50.0 cm)/mown (8 cm). Tall and tall/mown pastures presented higher BAL in September and October, respectively. In January, BAL was higher in short and tall/mown pastures than in tall pasture. The tiller number was higher in short pasture, intermediate in tall/mown pasture and lower in tall pasture. The percentage of old tillers was higher in short and tall pastures compared to tall/mown pasture. The percentage of live leaf lamina reduced, while the percentage of dead leaf lamina increased with tiller age. Mowing of the tall marandu palisadegrass pasture in late winter increases the renewal of tillers in the spring and decreases the percentage of old tillers in the summer. The old tillers present worse morphology than young tillers.

Infra Red Assisted Navigation for Automatic Lawn Mower Robot

The mobile robotics industries moving forward with innovative approach to solve the humanitarian problems. In this work, the scope is limited to cleaning backyard and front yard landscaping; the maintenance of these premises are mundane tasks which takes up lot of human effort and consumes time. Tasks like mow grass and dusting off the dead leaf’s using gardening robot for lawns and play grounds could be given to robot for effective maintenance. In this work a cost-effective method of navigation and boundary defining of the lawn/play ground is attempted. A set of defined mowing operation is coded in the robot for path planning and boundary defining of the target. Robot docking station is done using same boundary wire technique for charging the battery and resuming the work as required. The lawn mower estimate distance moved using ground speed sensor

Revisiting the Fates of Dead Leaves That Fall into Streams

As terrestrial leaf litter decomposes in rivers, its constituent elements follow multiple pathways. Carbon leached as dissolved organic matter can be quickly taken up by microbes, then respired before it can be transferred to the macroscopic food web. Alternatively, this detrital carbon can be ingested and assimilated by aquatic invertebrates, so it is retained longer in the stream and transferred to higher trophic levels. Microbial growth on litter can affect invertebrates through three pathways, which are not mutually exclusive. First, microbes can facilitate invertebrate feeding, improving food quality by conditioning leaves and making them more palatable for invertebrates. Second, microbes can be prey for invertebrates. Third, microbes can compete with invertebrates for resources bound within litter and may produce compounds that retard carbon and nitrogen fluxes to invertebrates. As litter is broken down into smaller particles, there are many opportunities for its elements to reenter the stream food web. Here, I describe a conceptual framework for evaluating how traits of leaf litter will affect its fate in food webs and ecosystems that is useful for predicting how global change will alter carbon fluxes into and out of streams.

Improved texture reproduction assessment of camera-phone-based medical devices with a dead leaves target

Camera-phone-based medical devices (CPMDs) represent a major emerging platform for point-of-care diagnostic imaging of biological tissue. In order to evaluate degradation in texture reproduction due to visible light image processing performed by CPMDs, a method ($MT{F_{DL}}$MTFDL) involving the generation of a modulation transfer function ($MTF$MTF) based on measurements of a ‘dead leaves (DL)’ target has been proposed. In this study, we have identified discrepancies in the quantification of noise based on gray patches of the DL target as compared to the textual region. To address this issue, we have proposed an approach ($MT{F_{DL - den}}$MTFDL−den) for accurate $MT{F_{DL}}$MTFDL calculation through the use of effectively denoised DL images. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our $MT{F_{DL - den}}$MTFDL−den approach provides superior robustness to simulated noise. These findings will help establish effective standardized test methods for realistic benchtop assessment of CPMD image quality.

Oviposition behaviour by a spider‐ectoparasitoid, Zatypota maculata, exploits the specialized prey capture technique of its spider host

AbstractOviposition on or into a living animal is an arduous undertaking for parasitoids, including in terms of counterattack or evasion by the host. Parasitoids of active spiders protected by their own webs (polysphinctine spider‐ectoparasitoids in the family Ichneumonidae) need to avoid entanglement with the spider's web to gain access to the spider host for oviposition. These circumstances have driven the evolution of offensive behaviours highly adapted to the web architecture of each spider host. We discovered offensive oviposition behaviour in a member of the Polysphincta‐group, Zatypota maculata, parasitizing a theridiid spider, Nihonhimea japonica, which constructs a ‘knockdown 3D web’. It consists of a non‐viscid 3D structure above, with a retreat (a dead leaf) hung at the centre, and a non‐viscid sheet below as a capturing device. When a prey insect is knocked down and then trapped by the sheet, the spider immediately drops onto the underside of the sheet by penetrating it to bite and wrap the prey. Zatypota maculata exhibits two behaviours to deal with this type of web: (1) the wasp climbs the 3D cobweb, creeps up slowly onto the spider's retreat, taking a long time so that the spider does not escape, and finally enters the retreat to sting the spider (creeping‐style); (2) the wasp dives from outside of the web onto the sheet, as a knocked‐down prey item would, to lure the spider out, before stinging it at the moment of contact (diving‐style). We discuss these unique offensive behaviours and compare them with behaviours of other polysphinctines and spider‐hunting aculeates. Ovicide by means of removal of pre‐existing eggs was also observed under experimental conditions.

Early exposure to UV radiation overshadowed by precipitation and litter quality as drivers of decomposition in the northern Chihuahuan Desert.

Dryland ecosystems cover nearly 45% of the Earth’s land area and account for large proportions of terrestrial net primary production and carbon pools. However, predicting rates of plant litter decomposition in these vast ecosystems has proven challenging due to their distinctly dry and often hot climate regimes, and potentially unique physical drivers of decomposition. In this study, we elucidated the role of photopriming, i.e. exposure of standing dead leaf litter to solar radiation prior to litter drop that would chemically change litter and enhance biotic decay of fallen litter. We exposed litter substrates to three different UV radiation treatments simulating three-months of UV radiation exposure in southern New Mexico: no light, UVA+UVB+Visible, and UVA+Visible. There were three litter types: mesquite leaflets (Prosopis glandulosa, litter with high nitrogen (N) concentration), filter paper (pure cellulose), and basswood (Tilia spp, high lignin concentration). We deployed the photoprimed litter in the field within a large scale precipitation manipulation experiment: ∼50% precipitation reduction, ∼150% precipitation addition, and ambient control. Our results revealed the importance of litter substrate, particularly N content, for overall decomposition in drylands, as neither filter paper nor basswood exhibited measurable mass loss over the course of the year-long study, while high N-containing mesquite litter exhibited potential mass loss. We saw no effect of photopriming on subsequent microbial decay. We did observe a precipitation effect on mesquite where the rate of decay was more rapid in ambient and precipitation addition treatments than in the drought treatment. Overall, we found that precipitation and N played a critical role in litter mass loss. In contrast, photopriming had no detected effects on mass loss over the course of our year-long study. These results underpin the importance of biotic-driven decomposition, even in the presence of photopriming, for understanding litter decomposition and biogeochemical cycles in drylands.

A darling, and: Historical Record, and: Promises in the attic, and: The shards, blooming,

A darling, and: Historical Record, and: Promises in the attic, and: The shards, blooming, Tara Westmor (bio) A darling When my sisters found the deer's body in our backyard, wide-eyed and pointing at the carcass (a darling, my sisters said), I knew I had seen a picture of the darlingin my mother's lap, tearing herself out of a picture book. I reached for the deer's head but my sisters tsked and scolded, and ran home in fits of shrieks. I thought of the dead leaf smell of autumn, the cool breath of my mother when she read out loud in the evening, windows left open, in a bedroom with three girls. My sisters and I peered over her shoulder to see the last picture of a deer.When I said please, my mother began the story again. I was feverish, my mother held my head in her lap and combed my hair with her fingers. The fine minutes severed into this ephemera: a mother, her hands, pure and divine and healing. When I would fake illness, and put my head in her lapshe would shoo me away. I dug at the earth with my tree branch I did not see the buzzards drag the darling, eat at her coat. I pulled at weeds and vines and small branches tore at grasses. I lifted the deer's head,fur matted and blood-stained and rested her cheek over my legs. [End Page 68] My mother, drawing my hair behind my ears says darling please, darling rocking with my head in her lap, I have imagined the plea soft and barely audible. I was ashamedto have imagined it at all. I covered the large eyes of the deer watching me and not watching me. I covered the body of the animal. My blood and her blood covered the debris. I worked like this until I heard my sisters' voicesfar away and close to the house I was afraid I could get caught like that, burying what was theirs. Historical Record My mother thought that, if her daughters were to bury her when she died, it could be one way.She could choose to rest beside the other Westlaketombstone under a maple tree. There could be two of them. We would only have to walkacross one path and only several graves to visit the Wright Brothers and Dunbar,all three of them on the same plot of land.I remember, of course, the story of it.The Wrights demanding the body of their poet friend, their insistence on family,their fear of his legacy forgotten.Or if my mother could be buried with the Van Cleves,she could overlook the towers with the family who [End Page 69] founded her great city. Her bones could decomposeand the city could decompose in her likeness. She thought that, maybe, she could be historic.Maybe her daughters could visit once a yearon Memorial Day. We could leave flowers, small stones, or our shiniest coins. My mother taught us the story of them:to leave a penny meant we had only known her,had we left our dirty nickels, we would have trainedher for this terrible life war. To leave a dime would mean we had served with her in the thickof it. And a quarter meant we were therewhen she died. My sisters could come backto Dayton and leave bright copper pennies. My mother thought it could be only one way.She would die and I would dig and digher grave, plant her there, and she would growinto the city. She would nurture it that way. How could any mother possibly think of it?How a daughter can think of it another way, how a daughter could be buried first? A mother could not even conceive of it. My mother could choose my plot of land, refuseto leave any coins. She could say, Darling, I did not knowthe war was thriving inside your body.My dear girl, how can I live nowthat you have buried the war within you. [End Page 70] Promises in the...

COMO A IDADE DO PERFILHO E A ADUBAÇÃO NITROGENADA MODIFICAM AS CARACTERÍSTICAS ESTRUTURAIS DO CAPIM-MARANDU DIFERIDO?

Resumo Este estudo avaliou as características estruturais de perfilhos, com diferentes idades, do capim-marandu (Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu) diferido e adubado. Foram avaliadas duas doses de nitrogênio (baixa, 50 kg ha-1 e alta, 200 kg ha-1), três categorias de idades de perfilhos (jovem, <2 meses; maduro, 2 a 4 meses; e velho, > 4 meses;), além de dois períodos (início, 1 a 45 dias e fim, 46 a 90 dias) durante o diferimento. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, em esquema de parcela sub-subdividida, com quatro repetições. De modo geral, o perfilho jovem apresentou melhor composição morfológica (40,0% de lâmina foliar viva, P=0,0074; 39,2% de colmo vivo, P=0,0208; e 20,8% de lâmina foliar morta, P=0,0155), enquanto que o perfilho velho teve pior morfologia (7,3% de lâmina foliar viva; 54,8% de colmo vivo; e 38,0% de lâmina foliar morta) ao término do período de diferimento. A percentagem de perfilho velho foi maior (P=0,0019) no fim (54,0%) do que no início (43,4%) do período de diferimento. No início do diferimento o dossel adubado com alta dose de N apresentou (P=0,0447) maior percentual de perfilho jovem (36,8%) do que aquele sob baixa dose de N (28,6%). No fim do período de diferimento, tanto a alta como a baixa dose de nitrogênio resultaram (P=0,0276) em valores similares de perfilho jovem no dossel diferido (24,3%, em média). A maior dose de N, parcelada antes do período de diferimento, aumenta o percentual de perfilho jovem durante a fase inicial do diferimento. O perfilho jovem tem melhores características estruturais do que os perfilhos maduros e velhos.

Multicomponent structures in camouflage and mimicry in butterfly wing patterns.

Understanding how morphological structures are built is essential for appreciating the morphological complexity and divergence of organisms. One representative case of morphological structures is the camouflage and mimicry of butterfly wing patterns. Some previous studies have questioned whether camouflage and mimicry are truly structures, considering that they rely on coloration. Nevertheless, our recent study revealed that the leaf pattern of Kallima inachus butterfly wings evolved through the combination of changes in several pigment components in a block-wise manner; it remains unclear whether such block-wise structures are common in other cases of camouflage and mimicry in butterflies and how they come about. Previous studies focused solely on a set of homologous components, termed the nymphalid ground plan. In the present study, we extended the scope of the description of components by including not only the nymphalid ground plan but also other common components (i.e., ripple patterns, dependent patterns, and color fields). This extension allowed us to analyze the combinatorial building logic of structures and examine multicomponent structures of camouflage and mimicry in butterfly wing patterns. We investigated various patterns of camouflage and mimicry (e.g., masquerade, crypsis, Müllerian mimicry, Batesian mimicry) in nine species and decomposed them into an assembly of multiple components. These structural component analyses suggested that camouflage and mimicry in butterfly wing patterns are built up by combining multiple types of components. We also investigated associations between components and the kinds of camouflage and mimicry. Several components are statistically more often used to produce specific types of camouflage or mimicry. Thus, our work provides empirical evidence that camouflage and mimicry patterns of butterfly wings are mosaic structures, opening up a new avenue of studying camouflage, and mimicry from a structural perspective.

Monochaetia sinensis sp. nov. from Yunnan Province in China

This study embodies description of a novel Monochaetia species, from dead leaf of a Quercus sp. collected from Lijiang in Yunnan Province, China. Morphologically, it conforms to the characters of Monochaetia by presence of single apical and basal appendage on the conidia. The new species forms a sister clade to M. ilexae in the combined LSU-ITS and TUB2 sequence data based phylogenetic analyses and remain distinct from the latter species in having larger conidia, long apical appendage, long basal appendage and long conidiogenous cells. Therefore, we introduce Monochaetia sinensis as a novel taxon with a comprehensive description and illustration.

Quantitative trait loci for salt tolerance in soybean

ABSTRACT Soybean [Glycine Max (L.) Merr.] growth and yield are adversely affected by soil salinity. Identification of salinity tolerance genes that improve soybean performance in saline soils is a highly effective way to use and develop soybean genotypes with high salt tolerance. The objective of this study is to identify and confirm quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with salt tolerance using an F2:3 mapping population derived from the cross Ozark (salt-sensitive) × Jake (salt-tolerant). This population was screened in the greenhouse for salt stress using 120 mM NaCl and evaluated for leaf scorch score (LSS), percentage of dead plants (PDP), leaf chlorophyll, and leaf chloride content, and genotyped using a SoySNP 6K chip. A major QTL on chromosome 3 was confirmed, and a minor QTL on chromosome 19 and additional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with salt tolerance were found in this study. These markers, once validated, will be valuable for marker-assisted selection in a soybean breeding program.

Comprehension of specifics of lyricism in Ukrainian and French songs as a component of work with the students-vocalists of Popular Music and Jazz specialization

Comprehension of specifics of lyricism in Ukrainian and French songs as a component of work with the students-vocalists of Popular Music and Jazz specialization

Applications of green materials for the preparation of eco-friendly bricks and pavers

The most basic and primary building material for construction of houses is the conventional brick. The rapid growth in today’s construction industry has obliged the civil engineers in searching for more efficient and durable alternatives far beyond the limitations of the conventional brick production [1-2]. A number of studies have been made and serious steps have been taken in manufacturing of bricks from several waste materials. However, the traditional mean of bricks production which has brought hazardous impacts to the context has not yet been changed or replaced by more efficient and sustainable one [3], [4]. Most of the researches went through enhancing the clay brick quality and properties by mixing the clay with various recycled wastes as foundry sand, granite sawing waste, harbour sediments, perlite, sugarcane, baggase ash, clay waste and fine waste of boron, sewage sludge, waste glass from structural wall and other different wastes. Compile this state of the art work of manufacturing bricks in the past and the current trend in the bricks industry with respect to the raw materials, ways of manufacturing and the out- comings.This project presents an experimental study on the utilization of waste materials which replaces clay with (Plastic covers, Ceramic Powder, Egg Shell Powder, GGBS, Silica Fume, Rice Husk Ash and Lime Powder) and Fine Aggregate with (Recycled glass, Dry Grass, Dead Leaves, Tree barks powder, Sugar cane powder, crumbed rubber) to produce eco-friendly Bricks. This project is an attempt to fill the gap of the past studies and suggest more sustainable and sophisticated methods of brick manufacturing in the future. 40 percent replacement of fine aggregate with crumbled rubber and dry grass in mortar bricks have given encouraging results, also the replacement of cement by egg shell powder at 20% has given a considerable result

Reduced colonization by soil invertebrates to irradiated decomposing wood in Chernobyl

Soil is inhabited by a range of microbes, invertebrates and vertebrates that disintegrate and decompose dead wood and leaf litter. These communities can be perturbed by ionizing radiation from natural radiation sources or from radiation originating from nuclear accidents such as those at Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island. We used experimental manipulations of wood quality due to differences in exposure to ionizing radiation among tree trunks and ambient radiation levels of the soil to test the hypothesis that radioactively contaminated wood would result in a negative correlation between the abundance of soil invertebrates colonizing slices of wood and level of radioactive contamination. We extracted soil invertebrates underneath decomposing wood using mustard powder diluted in water. The abundance of soil invertebrates extracted was highly repeatable at study sites and decreased with increasing ambient radiation and total dose measured with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs). Four 10 cm thick slices of ca. 70-year old Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) were deposited at 20 sites and the invertebrate taxa and their colonization and their abundance was assessed annually during 2014–2017. There were more soil invertebrates under uncontaminated than contaminated slices of wood. In addition, there were more soil invertebrates in areas with less ambient radioactivity, and there was an interaction effect between contamination of wood and ambient radiation implying that the role of contamination differed among slices. Finally, there was an increase in the abundance of soil invertebrates under wood slices during 2013–2017 implying that the abundance of soil invertebrates increased over time. These findings imply that the abundance of soil animals colonizing wood slices was dependent on background radiation, radioactive contamination of wood and the interaction between contamination of wood and ambient radiation.

Cadmium tolerant and sensitive wheat lines: their differences in pollutant accumulation, cell damage, and autophagy

Cadmium (Cd) is a major abiotic stressor that affects plant growth and reduces the productivity of field crops. Here, we examined the ultrastructural, physiological, and molecular changes in three wheat cultivars [Sumai 3, Jingdong 8 (JD 8), and Nannong 9918 (9918)] in response to different concentrations of Cd (0, 10, 50, and 100 μM) in 1/4 Hoagland nutrient solution. The results showed that JD 8 contained the lowest shoot Cd content and the highest root Cd content among the three cultivars at higher Cd concentrations and so JD 8 was proposed to be a relatively Cd-tolerant cultivar. Next, the stress responses of JD 8 and 9918 were compared. Cadmium reduced root growth and size and number of the leaves, inhibited root hair development, and promoted leaf cell death. The result of trypan blue staining showed that the dead leaf cells induced by Cd stress gradually emerged in the xylem, supporting the hypothesis that cell death could restrict Cd transport. The Cd-induced deterioration of the leaf ultrastructure led to the complete disorganization of the chloroplasts, which had lower amounts of transitory starch and an increased number of osmiophilic granules compared to those in the untreated controls. Autophagy-related genes and autophagy in the leaves were induced by Cd stress. At the same concentration and Cd treatment time, the Cd-tolerant genotype JD 8 exhibited less toxic symptoms compared to the Cd-sensitive genotype 9918. The results of this study provide insights into the ultrastructural and physiological damages induced by Cd stress, which may help in selecting Cd-tolerant wheat cultivars.

South Florida microfungi:Castanedospora, a new genus to accommodateSporidesmium pachyanthicola(Capnodiales, Ascomycota)

The taxonomic status and phylogenetic placement of Sporidesmium pachyanthicola in Capnodiales (Dothideomycetes) are revisited based on a specimen collected on the petiole of a dead leaf of Sabal palmetto in south Florida, U.S.A. New evidence inferred from phylogenetic analyses of nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence data together with a broad taxon sampling at family level suggest that the fungus is a member of Extremaceae and therefore its previous placement within the broadly defined Teratosphaeriaceae was not supported. A new genus Castanedospora is introduced to accommodate this species on the basis of its distinct morphology and phylogenetic position distant from Sporidesmiaceae sensu stricto in Sordariomycetes. The holotype material from Cuba was found to be exhausted and the Florida specimen, which agrees well with the original description, is selected as epitype. The fungus produced considerably long cylindrical to narrowly obclavate conidia in culture strongly resembling those of Sporidesmajora pennsylvaniensis, another sporidesmium-like, capnodiaceous anamorph. However, phylogenetic analyses show that they are not congeneric and the latter belongs to the family Phaeothecoidiellaceae.

Measurement on Complex Permittivities of Hydrated Soil, Live and Dead Leaves, Woods, and Stones at Frequency Bands from LF to MF for Landslides Prognostication

Measurement on Complex Permittivities of Hydrated Soil, Live and Dead Leaves, Woods, and Stones at Frequency Bands from LF to MF for Landslides Prognostication

Thigmotropic responses of Oryza sativa L. to external rubbing stimulation

Our aim was to study the morphological and physiological responses of rice to rubbing stimulation. Rice was subjected to rubbing 30 times/day (R30), 60 times/day (R60), 90 times/day (R90) and 0 times/day (control) for 35 days. The height, elongation rates and second internode length were significantly decreased by the three treatments, whereas stem width increased significantly. The tiller number and chlorophyll contents of the top third and top fifth of leaves increased significantly after R30 and R60. In R90, the aboveground biomass was significantly decreased and dead leaf biomass was increased. In R30 and R60, the transpiration rates were 16% and 13% higher than in the control, whereas photosynthetic rates increased 25% and 23%, respectively. Root biomass was significantly increased in R30, and root/aboveground was enhanced in R90. Stomatal conductance and root triphenyltetrazolium chloride-deoxidizing ability was significantly increased by the three treatments. The SOD activities in all treatments and the control were similar after stimulation. POD and CAT activities increased significantly in R30 and R60, and malondialdehyde increased by 42% in R90. Membrane permeability in R30 and R60 decreased 26% and 15%, respectively. The calcium content and soluble protein content increased in R30, whereas the magnesium content decreased. The nitrogen content increased significantly in R30 and R60. The silicon content in the whole plant and the size of stomata increased significantly in the three treatments. Thus, rubbing stimulation had complex effects on rice growth.

Dynamic and epistatic QTL mapping reveals the complex genetic architecture of waterlogging tolerance in chrysanthemum.

37 unconditional QTLs, 51 conditional QTLs and considerable epistatic QTLs were detected for waterlogging tolerance, and six favourable combinations were selected accelerating the possible application of MAS in chrysanthemum breeding. Chrysanthemum is seriously impacted by soil waterlogging. To determine the genetic characteristics of waterlogging tolerance (WAT) in chrysanthemum, a population of 162 F1 lines was used to construct a genetic map to identify the dynamic and epistatic quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for four WAT traits: wilting index (WI), dead leaf ratio (DLR), chlorosis score (Score) and membership function value of waterlogging (MFVW). The h B2 for the WAT traits ranged from 0.49 to 0.64, and transgressive segregation was observed in both directions. A total of 37 unconditional consensus QTLs with 5.81-18.21% phenotypic variation explanation (PVE) and 51 conditional consensus QTLs with 5.90-24.56% PVE were detected. Interestingly, three unconditional consensus QTLs were consistently identified across different stages, whereas no conditional consensus QTLs were consistently expressed. In addition, considerable epistatic QTLs, all with PVE values ranging from 0.01 to 8.87%, were detected by a joint analysis of WAT phenotypes. These results illustrated that the QTLs (genes) controlling WAT were environmentally dependent and selectively expressed at different times and indicated that both additive and epistatic effects underlie the inheritance of WAT in chrysanthemum. The findings of the current study provide insights into the complex genetic architecture of WAT, and the identification of favourable alleles represents an important step towards the application of molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) and QTL pyramiding in chrysanthemum WAT breeding programmes.

Espeletia giant rosette plants are reliable biological indicators of time since fire in Andean grasslands

Paramo grasslands in the tropical Andes are fire-prone ecosystems and an understanding of their fire ecology is fundamental to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Fire registers are normally impractical in these remote, cloud-covered landscapes, but Espeletia giant rosette plants have been proposed as biological indicators of time since fire in paramos. Espeletia giant stem rosettes tolerate fire well, protecting apical buds in at the heart of their leaf rosettes, and for some species, germination is known to be enhanced by fire. As the plant grows, its dead leaves remain attached to the stem, but fire removes these and resets the “leaf clock”. This study uses a unique register of fires in one Ecuadorian paramo to assess the robustness of this biological indicator. Dead leaf cover on Espeletia pycnophylla giant rosette plants was measured in fifteen different sites with known fire dates from 2000 to 2014. The growth rates of plants at four different elevations were measured over a 2-year period and used to estimate time since fire based on dead leaf cover in the known sites. Estimates were accurate to ± 2 year. Thus, where fire records are missing, relatively easy measurements of growth rates and dead leaf cover of Espeletia giant rosette plants can provide reliable estimates across a wide range of times since fire. This approach has value for direct investigations into fire ecology but also for studies in which controlling for fire dynamics is necessary to reveal underlying patterns. Therefore, this approach also offers a means to obtain better information on other landscape-scale processes such as the impact of climate change on biodiversity or the provision of ecosystem services.