Physiognomic Analysis Research Articles

Characterization and antimicrobial activity of a chitosan-selenium nanocomposite biosynthesized using Posidonia oceanica.

Nanobiotechnological approaches can provide effective solutions for overcoming food products' contamination and spoilage. The development of rapid and eco-friendly approaches for synthesizing nanocomposites from chitosan nanoparticles (Cht), Neptune grass "Posidonia oceanica" extract (NG), and NG-mediated selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) was targeted, with their investigation as potential antimicrobial, antioxidant, and biopreservatives of fresh chicken fillets. SeNPs were biosynthesized with NG, and their conjugates with Cht were composited. Characterization approaches, including infrared analysis, physiognomic analysis, and electron microscopy of synthesized nanomaterials and composites, were applied. The nanomaterials' antibacterial properties were assessed against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, and Escherichia coli qualitatively, quantitatively, and with ultrastructure imaging. The antimicrobial and antioxidant potentialities of nanomaterials were employed for preserving chicken fillets, and the sensorial and microbiological parameters were assessed for coated fillets. SeNPs were effectively biosynthesized by NG, with mean diameters of 12.41 nm; the NG/SeNPs had homogenous spherical shapes with good distribution. The prepared Cht/NG/SeNPs nanoconjugates had a mean diameter of 164.61 nm, semi-spherical or smooth structures, and charges of +21.5 mV. The infrared analyses revealed the involvement of biochemical groups in nanomaterial biosynthesis and interactions. The antibacterial actions of nanomaterials were proven against the entire challenged strains; Cht/NG/SeNPs was the most active agent, and Salmonella typhimurium was the most susceptible bacteria. Scanning micrographs of Cht/NG/SeNPs-treated Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium indicate the severe time-dependent destruction of bacterial cells within 8 h of exposure. The antioxidant potentiality of Cht/NG/SeNPs was the highest (91.36%), followed by NG/SeNPs (79.45%). The chicken fillets' coating with Cht, NG, NG/SeNPs, and Cht/NG/SeNPs resulted in a remarkable reduction in microbial group count and raised the sensorial attributes of coated fillets after 14 days of cold storage, with increased potentialities in the order: Cht/NG/SeNPs > NG/SeNPs > NG > Cht > control. The inventive, facile biosynthesis of Cht, NG, and SeNPs could provide effective antimicrobial and antioxidant nanocomposites for prospective applications in food biopreservation.

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the late Miocene macroflora of La Bisbal d'Empordà (Catalonia, Spain). Comparison with small mammals

The late Miocene flora from La Bisbal d'Empordà (Catalonia, Spain) provides significant data for characterising the coastal vegetation from the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula during a key period in Neogene climatic evolution. To this end, a historical leaf collection from La Bisbal d'Empordà was re-examined, analysed from a palaeoenvironmental viewpoint and compared with data provided by the associated small mammal fauna. This flora dates from 9.6–9.7 Ma in age (early Tortonian) according to small mammal biostratigraphy.The fossil-bearing beds were deposited in the floodplain of a meandering river system. Three palaeoecological assemblages were recognized: 1) Helophytic plant stems related to a wetland community. 2) Torn leaves of Fraxinus sp., Ulmus sp., Zelkova sp., Cedrelospermum sp. Populus balsamoides, Alnus gaudinii, Carpinus sp., Platanus sp., Acer tricuspidatum, Daphnogene sp. and, Laurophyllum sp. which would have belonged to a riparian forest located beyond the wetland community, with Fraxinus being the plant growing in closest proximity; 3) Isolated complete Paliurus seeds, interpreted as mainly wind-transported, which provide evidence of an open and more arid landscape situated distally from the floodplain. The small mammal assemblages associated with this flora are consistent with this palaeoenvironmental interpretation. The paucity of small arboreal mammal taxa and insectivores suggests limited forested vegetation areas, while the more common terrestrial species indicate better developed open landscapes. Our results show a more heterogeneous environment than previously thought and that the riverine processes impinged the flora, somewhat limiting the climatic conclusions that might be derived from leaf physiognomic analyses such as CLAMP.

Making Use of 3D Models for Plant Physiognomic Analysis: A Review

Use of 3D sensors in plant phenotyping has increased in the last few years. Various image acquisition, 3D representations, 3D model processing and analysis techniques exist to help the researchers. However, a review of approaches, algorithms, and techniques used for 3D plant physiognomic analysis is lacking. In this paper, we investigate the techniques and algorithms used at various stages of processing and analysing 3D models of plants, and identify their current limiting factors. This review will serve potential users as well as new researchers in this field. The focus is on exploring studies monitoring the plant growth of single plants or small scale canopies as opposed to large scale monitoring in the field.

A Thelypteridaceous Fern from the Early Paleocene Raton Formation, South-central Colorado, and Its Importance in Interpreting the Climate of the Region

Based on the results of leaf physiognomic studies, it is generally acknowledged that the Raton Basin in south-central Colorado and northeastern New Mexico hosted a tropical rainforest during the early Paleocene. However, this interpretation is problematic because the canopy-forming foliage of this forest was predominately lauraceous, and lauraceous foliage is almost invariably entire-margined. Thus, it may be necessary to look to other, taxonomy-based paleotemperature proxies to test megathermal paleotemperature estimates based solely on leaf physiognomic analyses of predominately lauraceous datasets. In this study, the pantropical fern Cyclosorus sensu lato (s.l.) is reported from the upper coal zone of the Raton Formation. The presence of this fern in the understory of a predominately lauraceous canopy suggests megathermal conditions in the early Paleocene.

Eidetic intuition as physiognomics: rethinking Adorno’s phenomenological heritage

Adorno’s intensive criticism of phenomenology is well known, his entire early period during the 1920s and 1930s being marked by various polemical engagements with Husserl. This engagement finds its peak during his work at his second dissertation project in Oxford, a dissertation that was supposed to systematicaly expose the antinomies of phenomenological thinking while particularly focusing on Husserl’s concept of “eidetic intuition” or “intuition of essences” (Wesensschau). The present paper will take this criticism as its starting point in focusing on two highly specific aspects of Adorno’s interpretation: the opposition between eidetic intuition and the traditional theories of abstraction and its relationship to genetic phenomenology. In light of this criticism I subsequently show: 1. that, in his later work, Adorno’s understanding of eidetic intuition undergoes a significant revaluation; 2. that he reappropriates key elements of the eidetic method in his own procedure of physiognomic analysis, and 3. that his account of physiognomics is relevant for addressing the aforementioned incongruities of phenomenological eidetics itself.

Oligocene plant ecological strategies in low-latitude Asia unraveled by leaf economics

The Oligocene represents an important epoch in the history of the stepwise global climate evolution from a warm climate to a cooler climate. The change probably introduced selective pressures influencing ecological strategies and caused the past ecosystems restructured. However, little is known about the paleoenvironment and adaptive plant ecological strategies in the terrestrial realm of the low latitudes. Here, based on the plant fossils from the Baigang Formation of the Baise Basin, low-latitude China, the paleoclimate, paleovegetational type, and paleoecological strategy are reconstructed using leaf physiognomic analyses, Integrated Plant Record and leaf economics spectrum, respectively. The results show that, under a warm and wet sub-tropical climate with low seasonality, the Oligocene Baise flora was dominated by ‘slow-return (maximized resource retention)’ species but mixed with a considerable proportion of ‘fast-return (rapid resource acquisition)’ species. These ecological strategies might promote the community to maximize the use of limited living resources, and at the same time to better tolerate potential extreme situations. These results allow us to examine which ecological strategies that fossil plants selected under a given paleoclimate condition and might potentially provide a clue to predict the direction of ecological strategy changes in a future climate change scenario.

Early Miocene climate estimations in Patagonia: The case of Pico Quemado, Ñirihuau Formation (Lower-Middle Miocene)

The climate during the early Neogene in Patagonia is characterized by the increase of the average temperatures until the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum. However, the terrestrial paleoclimate of southern South America during this period is unclear. Therefore, a physiognomic analysis on the Pico Quemado (Ñirihuau Formation, lower-middle Miocene) megaflora was realized. Three types of analyses were performed: 1) Leaf Margin Analysis (LMA); 2) Leaf Area Analysis (LAA); and 3) a CLAMP analysis (Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program) with two different dataset. The LMA and CLAMP predicted an estimated a Mean Annual Temperature of 10.4 ± 2.1 °C, 8.5 ± 2.1 °C and 7.2 ± 1.4 respectively. The estimations of Mean Annual Precipitation were of 123.7 ± 21.2 cm. Through the CCA, other parameters were estimated, i. e. Cold Mean Month Temperature (−3.3 ± 3.8 °C, 1.6 ± 1.6 °C); Warm Mean Month Temperature (17.4 ± 3.3 °C; 14.1 ± 1.2 °C); Mean Growing Season Precipitation (121.9 ± 42.6 cm; 78.1 ± 42.6 cm); Precipitation of the Three Consecutive Wettest Months (116.2 ± 15.3 cm; 88.5 ± 15.3 cm); and Precipitation of the Three Consecutive Driest Months (40.2 ± 19.8 cm; 54.1 ± 19.8 cm). From these results, the Pico Quemado megaflora can be characterized as having a cool temperate climate, with moderate precipitations and the development of bi-seasonality. The obtained estimations are concordant with previous morphological studies in Pico Quemado, which had proposed the same climate conditions. However, these results are inconsistent compared to other studies of early Neogene Southern Hemisphere that suggest that the climate could be warmer. This difference might be due to the few studies of climatic estimations during the early Neogene in Patagonia, precluding detailed comparisons. In conclusion, Pico Quemado paleoflora exhibits unique climatic conditions, and also floral compositions, as suggested in previous works and here corroborated. The study realized constitutes the first climatic estimations for an Argentinean megaflora developed during the Neogene.

남해 동부 연안해역 하계 해조식생의 생태학적 평가

For the ecological evaluation of marine algal flora, their communities were examined at 8 sites at eastern coast of Namhae, Korea, from August 7 to August 15, 2015. A total of 125 species, comprising 10 green, 15 brown, 100 red algal, was identified. Gelidium elegans, Ulva australis, Lithophyllum okamurae and Hypnea charoides were represent in all sites. The flora investigated could be classified into six functional groups such as coarsely branch form 48.0%, thick leather form 13.6%, filamentous form 12.0%, jointed calcareous form 11.2%, crustose form 8.0% and sheet form 7.2% during the study period. Two ecological state group(ESG) were evaluated based on these functional groups. While ESGⅠ, the late successional species group, formed 32.8% of the algal community; ESGⅡ, composed of opportunistic species, comprised 67.2%. The average ecological evaluation index (EEI) of eastern coast of Namhae, Korea was 4.0, and that of Tongyeong and Namhae was 4.7 and 4.5, and that of Goseong and Geoje was 4.0 and 2.5, so the ecological environments of Goseong and Geoje were not so good as Tongyeong and Namhae. Physiognomic analysis indicated an inland sea type at Chubongdo, Yeondaedo, Beokryeon, Songjeong, Donghwa and Mangchi. On the other hand, physiognomic analysis indicated an open sea type at Maemuldo and Susan. A cluster analysis of species occurrence suggested that the number of marine algal species differed among the sampling sites. The state of the coastal environment were determined using a community indices. Environmental conditions according to dominance index(DI) and diversity(H`) was

Not in the Baedeker. Photography and the Physiognomy of the Metropolis in Weimar Germany

Photography has been extensively used in traditional physiognomy, as well as contributing to the fashion of reading other aspects of modern life physiognomically. In the hermeneutic discourse of the Weimar period, the trope of face became a crucial tool for reading all kinds of phenomena physiognomically, searching for hidden links and connections between different aspects of social life. Photography’s ability to register any minute detail of the surface of the world, and its supposed limitation to recording only that which reveals itself to the lens, made it a welcome tool for such physiognomic readings. Physiognomic thinking also became a meeting ground for conceptualising urban experiences and reflections on the medium of photography. The flânerie of the modern city dweller was not only a product of contemplating photographs, it also provided opportunities for photographers, and the specificity of photography as a medium may have helped to trigger a physiognomic analysis of urban environments.

A Quantitative Physiognomic Analysis of Contemporary Farm Buildings to Improve Awareness in Rural Planning

<abstract> . Ordinary citizens and stakeholders are gaining increasing awareness of rural landscapes as a common good, where architectural quality is an integral part of the environment. While historic rural buildings represent an acknowledged landscape value, this does not apply to contemporary buildings, which up to now have been considered service architecture to support the production of material goods. This study developed a method for analyzing the formal characteristics of contemporary farm building that adds quantitative aspects to the qualitative descriptions with the application of analytical tools. In particular, this work presents a validation and implementation of the methodological model FarmBuiLD (Farm Building Landscape Design) through application to contemporary rural buildings (constructed after World War II) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, as well as a study of the relationships between the formal features and functional requirements of contemporary rural architecture. The results show how the contemporary rural architecture is diversified in terms of shape, relationship with the surrounding landscape, and articulation or compactness. Physiognomic clusters were defined on the basis of joint interpretation of the results. They allowed definition of the correspondences between physiognomic characteristics and specific functional requirements expressed by users of the rural landscape. This research also shows how the application of analytical tools can increase knowledge of contemporary farm buildings.

A Quantitative Physiognomic Analysis of Contemporary Farm Buildings to Improve Awareness in Rural Planning

. Ordinary citizens and stakeholders are gaining increasing awareness of rural landscapes as a common good, where architectural quality is an integral part of the environment. While historic rural buildings represent an acknowledged landscape value, this does not apply to contemporary buildings, which up to now have been considered service architecture to support the production of material goods. This study developed a method for analyzing the formal characteristics of contemporary farm building that adds quantitative aspects to the qualitative descriptions with the application of analytical tools. In particular, this work presents a validation and implementation of the methodological model FarmBuiLD (Farm Building Landscape Design) through application to contemporary rural buildings (constructed after World War II) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, as well as a study of the relationships between the formal features and functional requirements of contemporary rural architecture. The results show how the contemporary rural architecture is diversified in terms of shape, relationship with the surrounding landscape, and articulation or compactness. Physiognomic clusters were defined on the basis of joint interpretation of the results. They allowed definition of the correspondences between physiognomic characteristics and specific functional requirements expressed by users of the rural landscape. This research also shows how the application of analytical tools can increase knowledge of contemporary farm buildings.

The Vascular Flora and Vegetational Communities of Cabin Creek Raised Bog, Randolph County, Indiana

From 2004 to 2012 a study of the flora and floral communities at Cabin Creek Raised Bog (Cabin Creek) was conducted. Cabin Creek, designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in December, 1974, is privately owned. It is located in west-central Randolph County, Indiana. An inventory of the vascular flora revealed 478 taxa representing 282 genera and 91 families. The 12 families containing approximately 62% of the documented species (in order by number of species) were Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Liliaceae, Lamiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Apiaceae, Fabaceae, Ranunculaceae, Brassicaceae, and Polygonaceae. Of the 478 documented species, 400 were native, 78 were exotics, and 118 represented new Randolph County records. There were three species with Indiana Rare-Threatened-Endangered status, including Veratrum virginicum (endangered), Triantha glutinosa (rare), and Melica nitens (threatened). A physiognomic analysis (i.e., summary of plant form or habit) is presented. The floristic quality index (FQI) for native species is 85.6 (78.3 for all species) and the mean coefficient of conservatism (mean C) for native species is 4.3 (3.6 for all species). These numbers clearly signify the “paramount importance” of the floral natural heritage of the approximately 7 ha Cabin Creek site and indicate that it is among the highest floristic quality sites in the state. The flora occurring in the major community types (wetland border/marshes, sedge meadow–calcareous fen complex, moist prairie, mesic to dry woodland, moist woodland and hardwood swamp) is described.

Foliar physiognomic climate estimates for the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) Lark Quarry fossil flora, central-western Queensland, Australia

Although there is a broad knowledge of Cretaceous climate on a global scale, quantitative climate estimates for terrestrial localities are limited. One source of terrestrial palaeoproxies is foliar physiognomy. The use of foliar physiognomy to explore Cretaceous assemblages has been limited, and some of its potential sources of error have not been fully explored. Although museum collections house a wealth of material, collection bias toward particular taxa or preservation qualities of specimens further magnifies existing taphonomic bias to cold temperatures. As a result, specific collection for foliar physiognomy can be necessary. Here, we conduct three foliar physiognomic analyses on the early Late Cretaceous Lark Quarry flora and assess the results in the context of other proxies from the same formation. Our results suggest that the climate at the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary in central western Queensland was warm and had high precipitation (leaf-area analysis: 1321 mm + 413 mm – 315 mm mean annual precipitation; leaf-margin analysis: 16.4°C mean annual temperature, 5.3°C binomial sample error; climate leaf-analysis multivariate program: 16 ± 2°C for mean annual temperature, 9-month growth season, 1073 ± 483 mm growth-season precipitation). Our analysis also gave higher mean annual temperature estimates than did a previous analysis by climate leaf-analysis multivariate program, based on museum collections for the Winton Formation.

How wet was the Arctic Eocene rain forest? Estimates of precipitation from Paleogene Arctic macrofloras

Research Article| January 01, 2010 How wet was the Arctic Eocene rain forest? Estimates of precipitation from Paleogene Arctic macrofloras David R. Greenwood; David R. Greenwood 1Department of Biology, Brandon University, 270 18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba R7A 6A9, Canada Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar James F. Basinger; James F. Basinger 2Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Robin Y. Smith Robin Y. Smith 2Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2010) 38 (1): 15–18. https://doi.org/10.1130/G30218.1 Article history received: 09 Mar 2009 rev-recd: 20 Jul 2009 accepted: 22 Jul 2009 first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation David R. Greenwood, James F. Basinger, Robin Y. Smith; How wet was the Arctic Eocene rain forest? Estimates of precipitation from Paleogene Arctic macrofloras. Geology 2010;; 38 (1): 15–18. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G30218.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The Eocene was the warmest part of the Cenozoic, when warm climates extended into the Arctic, and substantive paleobotanical evidence indicates broadleaf and coniferous polar forests. Paleontological temperature proxies provide a basis for understanding Arctic early Paleogene climates; however, there is a lack of corresponding proxy data on precipitation. Both leaf physiognomic analysis and quantitative analysis of nearest living relatives of an Arctic macroflora indicate upper microthermal to lower mesothermal moist climates (mean annual temperature ∼13–15 °C; cold month mean temperature ∼4 °C; mean annual precipitation >120 cm/yr) for Axel Heiberg Island in the middle Eocene. Leaf-size analysis of Paleocene and Eocene Arctic floras demonstrates high precipitation for the Paleogene western and eastern Arctic. The predicted enormous volume of freshwater entering the Arctic Ocean as a result of northward drainage of a significant region of the Northern Hemisphere under a high-precipitation regime would have strongly affected Arctic Ocean salinity, potentially supporting Arctic Ocean Azolla blooms. High Paleogene precipitation around the Arctic Basin is consistent with high atmospheric humidity, which would have contributed significantly to polar, and global, Eocene warming. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Ancient Fears and the New Order: Witch Beliefs and Physiognomy in the Age of Reason

ABSTRACTBy common accord, the eradication of witch beliefs is one of the most important signs of the new order established in the Enlightenment. During the ‘Age of Reason’, experimental and mathematical sciences began to form the basis of new philosophies; mechanistic processes supplanted the spiritual as a method of explaining the world; witch beliefs and other superstitions began to lose their validity, and – accordingly – witch hunts, trials and executions became a thing of the less enlightened past.1 But there is also much evidence to the contrary, indicating that the old superstitions were not abandoned during the Age of Reason, but co‐existed comfortably alongside new intellectual and philosophical thought systems like Cartesianism and Deism. Witch beliefs weathered the Enlightenment in two ways: out in the open – in the form of eighteenth‐century witch hunts and witch executions – and underground, sublimated not only in ‘art’, such as the fairy tales of Romanticism,2 but also in ‘science’, such as physiognomy, a discipline embraced or at least condoned by the best and brightest of the Enlightened Age, including Goethe, Herder, Lenz, Nicolai, and Mendelssohn.3 The witch trial of Anna Göldi and physiognomic analyses of the poet Anna Louisa Karsch will serve as my test cases for this assertion. Throughout, I will take a look at an organ that has not only played an important role in both witch beliefs and physiognomy, but is also at the centre of the enlightened credo of ‘seeing is believing’: the eye.

Leaf physiognomic indications for a moist warm-temperate climate in NW Italy during the Messinian (Late Miocene)

A leaf physiognomic analysis has been carried out on 980 specimens of Messinian leaves collected during the last three decades of the 20th century from the Gessoso Solfifera Formation (Messinian, Late Miocene) in NW Italy. The material is stored at the F. Eusebio Museum of Alba, and originates from a few sites located in close proximity to each other in the valley of the Tanaro River near Alba. According to recently published age models, the studied plant-bearing sites can be dated between 6.0 and 5.7 Ma. The physiognomic analysis was preceded by a taxonomic one, which allowed separation of 74 to 77 dicotyledonous taxa (morphotypes). The botanical affinity of a large proportion of the taxa is not yet defined, because they either belong to the so-called “leguminosoid” types or consist of entire-margined leaves with a coriaceous texture, whose affiliations with a known plant family are not definable solely on the basis of gross morphology. Several recently published univariate and multivariate correlations between climate and leaf physiognomy were applied to the individual floras in order to estimate selected palaeoclimatic parameters. The results obtained for the two richest assemblages, as well as the combined flora from all localities, point to warm-temperate and humid palaeoclimatic conditions, also indicated by the taxonomic composition of these floras. One other assemblage, which consists of fewer taxa, provides significantly lower temperature and precipitation estimates. However, in this case, it is rather likely that the estimates have been influenced by the low number of taxa, caused by taphonomic biases, reducing the representation of entire-margined taxa. Our results imply that at least some existing leaf physiognomic techniques can reliably be used for the reconstruction of palaeoclimatic conditions based on floras from Europe, although previous data from other European floras suggested that some of these methods may produce erroneous results.

On the persistence of Tropical Paleofloras in central Chile during the Early Eocene

Mixed paleofloras first appeared during the Early Eocene of southern South America. These floras were a blend of cold and warm taxa with Austral-Antarctic and Neotropical affinities. Despite the onset of mixed floras, Neotropical floras persisted in central Chile during the Early Eocene. In this study, we analyze the reasons for this persistence and also show that a relationship exists between this persistence and regional paleoclimate. We established the taxonomical composition, associated paleoclimate and phytogeographic affinities of an Early Eocene flora at Caleta Cocholgüe, coastal central Chile. Our results indicate that tropical and subtropical taxa prevailed at Caleta Cocholgüe. These were chiefly Lauraceae, today associated with a humid-warm climate. Physiognomic analyses indicate Mean Annual Temperature and Mean Annual Precipitation above 19 °C and 260 cm, respectively. Moreover, a phytogeographic analysis demonstrates that the Caleta Cocholgüe is closely related to other tropical floras, and poorly linked to contemporary mixed floras. These results strongly suggest that tropical floras persisted in central Chile during the Early Eocene and formed a belt across current subtropical latitudes from southern South America, between 25°S and 37°S. This persistence might be related to the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and to a shrinking tropical belt, compared to its former Paleocene/Eocene extension.

Environmental signals from leaves – a physiognomic analysis of European vegetation

Leaf physiognomic traits vary predictably along climatic and environmental gradients. The relationships between leaf physiognomy and climate have been investigated on different continents, but so far an investigation based on European vegetation has been missing. A grid data set (0.5 degrees x 0.5 degrees latitude/longitude) has been compiled in order to determine spatial patterns of leaf physiognomy across Europe. Based on distribution maps of native European hardwoods, synthetic chorologic flora lists were compiled for all grid cells. Every synthetic chorologic flora was characterised by 25 leaf physiognomic traits and correlated with 16 climatic parameters. Clear spatial patterns of leaf physiognomy have been observed, which are statistically significant related to certain, temperature-related climate parameters. Transfer functions for several climatic parameters have been established, based on the observed relationships. The study provides evidence that synthetically generated floras represent a powerful tool for analysing spatial patterns of leaf physiognomy and their relationships to climate. The transfer functions from the European data set indicate slightly different relationships of leaf physiognomy and environment compared with results obtained from other continents.

Did South American Mixed Paleofloras evolve under thermal equability or in the absence of an effective Andean barrier during the Cenozoic?

Two hypotheses have attempted to explain the development of Mixed Paleofloras during the Cenozoic in South America. One of them postulates changes in the climatic tolerances of its component taxa and the other calls for the establishment of atmospheric thermal stability (“equable climate”) at the time these floras came into existence. We set out to test these hypotheses using leaf physiognomical analyses for eight Mixed fossil floras of the Cenozoic of Chile and Argentina. In addition to physiognomic analyses of the complete dicotyledonous flora as known from each site, we also evaluated the physiognomic significance of fossil Nothofagus leaves in relation to current Chilean species of the genus. Our results suggest that fossil Nothofagus leaves have a broader climatic envelope relative to the extant species. This divergence could be accounted by differences in their respective climatic tolerances. We postulate that the Mixed Paleoflora evolved in a subtropical climate that extended as far south as 40°S, with relatively warm temperatures and high annual rainfall with little seasonal variation. This climatic scenario is possible only with a much-reduced Andean massif, which would have permitted the spillover of moisture of easterly origin to the Pacific Andean slopes.

Late Cretaceous climate signal of the Northern Pekulney Range Flora of northeastern Russia

Plant-bearing continental deposits from the northern Pekulney mountain range in the Anadyr-Koryak subregion of northeastern Russia (approximately 66°N, 175°E) represent a rich and diverse flora growing close to the Late Cretaceous North Pole at a palaeolatitude of ∼78°N. The Early Coniacian age of this flora is based on biostratigraphic correlation of the plant-bearing beds with underlying and overlying marine units. The Northern Pekulney Range Flora comprises two large plant macrofossil assemblages, one from the Tylpegyrgynai Formation on the western slopes of the northern Pekulney Range and the other from the Poperechnaya Formation on its northeastern slopes. The flora is dominated by angiosperms followed by conifers, ferns, cycadophytes, ginkgophytes and sphenophytes, in decreasing order of species diversity. Dicotyledonous angiosperm leaves (57 morphotypes) from the Northern Pekulney Range Flora were subjected to a Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP) physiognomic analysis. Separate analyses of the constituent assemblages from the Tylpegyrgynai and Poperechnaya formations yielded 27 and 39 morphotypes, respectively. Results suggest that the Northern Pekulney Range Flora experienced a mean annual temperature of 8.1±1.2 °C, a cold month mean temperature of −1.5±1.9 °C, a mean monthly growing season precipitation of 78.8±36.9 mm and a growing season of 5.3±0.7 months. This suggests a warm temperate climate lacking pronounced drought, in which the polar light regime constrained the length of the growing season. CLAMP results for the Tylpegyrgynai Formation Flora suggest slightly higher temperatures, with a mean annual temperature of 9.4±1.2 °C and a cold month mean temperature of 0.9±1.9 °C, whilst estimates for the Poperechnaya Formation Flora are cooler, with a mean annual temperature of 7.3±1.2 °C and a cold month mean temperature of −2.7±1.9 °C. Because the floras from the Tylpegyrgynai and Poperechnaya formations also exhibit differences in their taxonomy and physiognomy, they should be considered as two distinct floras. The overall taxonomic composition of these floras, their foliar physiognomy and estimated palaeoclimate parameters suggest a deciduous phenology with a few evergreen elements. Comparisons with other Arctic Coniacian floras are consistent with the high latitudinal position of the Northern Pekulney Range Flora and its proximity to the northern proto-Pacific Ocean.