Abstract Detail
Paleobotany Schwendemann, Andrew Benjamin [1]. A leaf economic analysis of high latitude Triassic plants from Antarctica. Plant resource use can be measured in many ways, but not all of these methods are suitable for fossils. Leaf mass per area (LMA) analysis is a measure of leaf economics that can be applied to fossil plants. The LMA of fossil plants can be estimated by measuring the surface area of the leaf and using the petiole width as a proxy for leaf mass. Plants with a high LMA typically grow more slowly than low LMA plants and retain their leaves for a longer time. Plants with low LMA strategies invest less resources in their leaves and are more susceptible to herbivory. Although many high latitude plants are assumed to have been deciduous due the unique environmental conditions under which they grew, recent research suggests that plants of the Petriellales were small evergreen plants. These evergreens lived in the shadows of larger deciduous plants, such as Dicroidium and Telemachus. This current study examines the leaf economic strategies of these, and other, Triassic plants from Antarctica.
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1 - Lander University, Biology, 320 Stanley Avenue, Greenwood, SC, 29649, USA
Keywords:
Antarctica
Triassic
high-latitude
fossil
leaf economics.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 23, Paleozoic and Mesozoic Paleobotany
Location: 102/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016
Time: 9:00 AM
Number: 23004
Abstract ID:729
Candidate for Awards:None | 
