Collecting in situ/adhered pollen from fossil compressed angiosperm flowers

Author(s)
Christian Geier, Johannes M. Bouchal, Silvia Ulrich, Dieter Uhl, Torsten Wappler, Sonja Wedmann, Reinhard Zetter, Fridgeir Grimsson
Abstract

Fossilised compressed angiosperm flowers that can be determined in a botanically/systematically meaningful sense are rare in the fossil record. The main reason for this might be the preservation state, i.e., such fossils are in many cases strongly compacted, and can lack diagnostic features essential for proper identification and assignment to extant or (natural) extinct taxa. Since pollen morphology can be very conservative and of diagnostic significance at family and/or genus level from the Upper Cretaceous to modern times, analysis of in situ pollen is a crucial tool in identifying flowers. Unfortunately, despite its potential taxonomic value already addressed nearly 200 years ago by Heinrich Göppert, fossil in situ pollen from compressed flowers has not yet become a “standard” research subject in modern-day palaeobotany. Possible reasons for this may be due to the effort and complexity related to the detection and extraction of said in situ pollen. The method described herein fills this gap and makes it easy for everyone (students and professionals) to screen flower compression fossils and to extract in situ or adhered pollen from the flowers. It also provides a fast and practical way to process fossil pollen prior to photography with light- and scanning electron microscopy for future taxonomic work.

Organisation(s)
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology
External organisation(s)
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Journal
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
Volume
310
Pages
1-6
No. of pages
6
ISSN
0034-6667
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104831
Publication date
03-2023
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
105117 Palaeobotany, 106008 Botany
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Palaeontology
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/collecting-in-situadhered-pollen-from-fossil-compressed-angiosperm-flowers(560cbd2d-7af2-4570-a181-91dd3e3956a9).html