How to extract and analyze pollen from internal organs and exoskeletons of fossil insects?
- Author(s)
- Fridgeir Grimsson, Silvia Ulrich, Reinhard Zetter, Thomas Hörnschemeyer, Michael S. Engel, Sonja Wedmann
- Abstract
Summary This protocol explains how to extract pollen from fossil insects with subsequent descriptions of pollen treatment. We also describe how to document morphological and ultrastructural features with light-microscopy and electron microscopy. It enables a taxonomic assignment of pollen that can be used to interpret flower-insect interactions, foraging and feeding behavior of insects, and the paleoenvironment. The protocol is limited by the state of the fossil, the presence/absence of pollen on fossil specimens, and the availability of extant pollen for comparison. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Wappler et al. (2015), Ulrich and Grímsson (2020), and Wedmann et al. (2021).
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, Department of Palaeontology
- External organisation(s)
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, University of Kansas
- Journal
- STAR Protocols
- Volume
- 2
- Pages
- 1-19
- No. of pages
- 20
- ISSN
- 2666-1667
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100923
- Publication date
- 2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105117 Palaeobotany, 106008 Botany, 105118 Palaeontology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine, General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology, General Immunology and Microbiology, General Neuroscience
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/b8f0383c-3707-4c17-96bd-eddea0a83454