Transcript New Zealand Tree Fern

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Glossary of Terms
Cyathea
A New Zealand Tree Fern
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Glossary of Terms
Biodiversity and Radiation of a New
Zealand Tree Fern (Cyathea):
-Species phylogeny for Cyathea?
-Pattern and timing of species diversification?
-Impact of habitat in driving morphological and ecological diversity of
Cyathea in New Zealand?
-Differences in species radiation of Cyathea in New Zealand (an Island
archipelago) and respective South Pacific Island habitats and evolutionary
importance of habitat on biodiversity & radiation?
Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ)
ALLAN WILSON CENTRE for Molecular Ecology and Evolution
RSNZ: Home
-Develop learning modules to develop and strengthen problem solving skills
of New Zealand students, relevant and interesting to students, written from a
New Zealand context & perspective.
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Glossary of Terms
Cyatheaceae
- A family of 500-600 species of tree ferns.
- Wet, montane tropical forests around the world.
- Unusual: High Species Diversity, yet near
uniform chromosome number, n=69
.
- Fertile diploid hybrids.
- At least THREE different systems of
classification:
1. Tyron and Tyron(1982),
2. Holttum and Edwards(1983)
3. Lellinger*(1987).
*Supported by Brownsey(2000).
[Contant(1994)
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Glossary of Terms
Cyatheaceae Classification
Note: Taxonomically, New Zealand species are reasonably easy to identify,
Tryon and Tryon (1982)
Alsophila
Nephelea
Holttum and Edwards (1983)
Cyathea
Lellinger (1987)
Alsophila
subgenus Cyathea
section Alsophila
Cnemidaria
sub sect. Alsophila
Cnemidaria
Cyathea
sub sect. Nephelea
Cyathea
Trichipteris
section Cyathea
Sphaeropteris
subgenus Sphaeropteris
Sphaeropteris
subgenus Sphaeropteris
subgenus Sclephropteris
Data from a study of cpDNA completed by Conant(1994) shows strong support for 3
evolutionary lineages: Alsophila clade, Cyathea clade and Sphaeropteris clade, Alsophila
being most basal and Cyathea and Sphaeropteris are derived sister groups. cpDNA Data are
most consistent with Lellinger’s classification.
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Glossary of Terms
Classification
Sori and indusial characteristics
Habitat
(shows geographical distribution of A. colensoi)
Stipe
Frond Forms
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Glossary of Terms
Various Cyatheaceae
Distributions
c. colensoi
c. smithii
c. cunginghamii
c. medullaris
c. dealbata
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Glossary of Terms
Fern Life Cycle
Mature Tree Ferns
Sori on under-side of
Cyathea medullaris
Young Sporophyte
emerging from
gametophyte
The young gametophyte is a rarely seen
plant (1-2 mm) that is a completely
independent plant in the life cycle.
Gametophyte
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Glossary of Terms
Fern Morphology
(Anatomy)
The Tree-Fern
fiddlehead gives rise to
a new Frond (leaf). ‘
The young fiddlehead
and it’s stalk (stipe) are
often covered with hair
and/or scales.
Each spore-case
under the leaf(pinna)
is called a sorus.
Each sorus contains
many sporangia.
Each sporangium
produce a varying
number of spores.
The spore-cases look
different for various
species of Fern, and
can be used to
identify them.
This spore-case may
be covered by a flap,
called an indusium.
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Glossary of Terms
Classifying Ferns
(A Dichotomous Tree)
To use this Key to identify Ferns, Start at the BOTTOM of the Key and follow
the arrows.
Go to Page (10)
Does it have fronds that are
divided once?
Go to Page (10)
Go to Page (13)
Go to Page (10)
Does it have fronds that are
divided more than once (NOT a tree-fern)?
Does it Have simple,
single/unlobed fronds (leaves)?
Does it look like
a tree ?
START HERE
Does it have see-through fronds?
Go to Page (10)
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Glossary of Terms
Morphological Classification Key
Start at the BOTTOM
Dicksonia squarrosa
-Slender trunk with black
pegs of remaining dead
fronds. (Sometimes
branches)
-Very thick and soft brown
trunk.
Are the Frond (leaf) stalks
black?
YES
YES
Are the
Fronds in the
“Skirt” whole?
Cyathea dealbata
-Underside of leaves
silver/white.
Dicksonia fibrosa
NO
YES
Does it have a
“Prickly” Trunk?
Is the
“Skirt”
Tidy?
NO
YES
Cyathea smithii
- Skirt made of frond stalks
only.
-Very soft and pale fronds,
horizontal like parasol.
NO
Cyathea medullaris
-Scars on trunk oval or
hexagonal in shape.
NO
YES
NO
Cyathea medullaris
Does it have a “Skirt”
of dead fronds in this
area?
Start
HERE
(Young)
Go Back
to Page 5
YES
NO
Is it a Tree Fern?
To complete a Phylogenetic Analysis of Nucleotide Sequences,
go to:The Phylogenetic Tree Constructor
-Very uneven skirt of black
frond stalks.
-Thick frond stalks.
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Glossary of Terms
Cyathea Dicksonia
vs.
Cyathea dealbata .....................................................................vs.
Dicksonia sqarrosa
Height: Up to 10m
Height: Up to 7m
Fronds: Up to 4m
Fronds: Up to 3m
Distinguishing characters:
Distinguishing characters:
-White peg-like frond bases on trunk
-Black peg-like frond bases on trunk
-White stalks (stipe) and under fronds.
-Black stalks, may have branches.
Location:
Location:
North Island, East of South Island
North Island and South Island, common
in most Forest
Dry Forest or open scrub
Cyathea smithii… .....................................................................vs.
Dicksonia fibrosa.
Height: Up to 8m
Height: Up to 6m
Fronds: Up to 2.5m
Fronds: Up to 3m (HARSH)
Distinguishing characters:
Distinguishing characters:
-Fronds are soft, pale, horizontal.
-Trunk is thick, soft and brown.
-Short skirt of dried stalks (not Frond)
-Skirt of entire dead fronds.
Location:
Location:
More common in South Island at high
altitudes as they like it cold and wet.
North Island and South Island Forrest,
semi-open scrub
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Glossary of Terms
Cyathea
Cyathea medullaris (Young)
the others
Cyathea medullaris (Mature)
Height: Up to 20m
Height: Up to 20m
Fronds: Up to 5m
Fronds: Up to 5m
Distinguishing characters:
Distinguishing characters:
-Young ferns will often have
untidy skirt of a few dead
fronds.
-Thick Black stalks, Oval/Hexagonal
scars left where fronds are lost.
Location:
North Island and South Island, common
in most damp valley forests.
Cyathea colensoi
Cyathea cunninghamii (Similar to C. medullaris)
Height: Up to 1m (a creeping Fern, may
have horizontal fronds along ground)
Fronds: Up to 1.5m
Distinguishing characters:
-Very slender, pale brown stalks
Location:
North and South Island in mountain
forests. Favours damp areas/treeline.
Height: Up to 20m
Fronds: Up to 3m
?
Distinguishing characters:
-Fronds are soft, pale, horizontal.
-Ragged skirt on young plants, rough
stalks/dark brown and appressed.
Location:
Wet coasts (North and West).
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Glossary of Terms
Glossary of Terms
Dichotomous
To branch into two. A dichotomous keys asks a question about a plant, and there are two possible answers.
Endemic
A plant is endemic if it exists only in one geographical region/island. The silver fern (Cyathea dealbata) grows
in New Zealand and is not found anywhere else in the world, and is therefore, endemic to New Zealand.
Fronds
The leaves of a Fern.
Gametophyte
A VERY tiny, green, heart shaped plant that is produced from Fern spores in the Fern Life Cycle.
The gametophyte produces egg and sperm which ‘merge’, and a new sporophyte (Fern plant) grows.
Indusium (indusia, pl)
In some Ferns, it protects sporangia by covering them. The indusium looks different on various Fern species.
Morphology
Physical Characteristics of a plant. What a plant looks like, and it’s form (including the internal structure).
Phloem
Tube in a vascular plant that carries nutrients.
Rhizome
The trunk of the Tree-Fern. (Found along the ground in the Creeping Tree-Fern)
Species
An individual group of plants that has been ‘produced’ from parents of the same species. If all the plants in a
species die, it cannot be reproduced by any means, and is therefore extinct.
Sorus (Sori, pl)
A group of sporangia found under the leaves of a fern, sometimes covered by an indusium.
Sporangium (sporangia, pl)
The part of a Fern plant under the leaves that produce and hold spores before they are released.
Spore
Fern ‘seeds’. Spores are produced under the leaves (pinnae) and dropped when they are mature. If they land
in a favorable location, they become a gametophyte (see Fern Life Cycle), which produces egg and sperm.
Sporophyte
The Fern Plant we see. In a Fern Life Cycle it produces the spores.
Stipe
The ‘stalk’ of a Fern that connects the trunk (rhizome) to the leaf(frond). See Fern Morphology (Anatomy)
Vascular plant
Any plant that makes use of tubes to transport water, nutrients or other materials through the plant.
Xylem
Tube in a vascular plant that carries water.
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Glossary of Terms
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Thank you for using New Zealand Ferns, and I would like to thank:
1. Royal Society of New Zealand.
2. Allan Wilson Centre, Massey University.
3. Associate Professor Peter Lockhart,
Recourses:
“New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants”, Patrick J. Brownsey and John C.
Smith Dodsworth, David Bateman, pp83-89.
“Native Trees of New Zealand 2”, J.T. Salmon, Reed Publishing NZ Ltd.,
2003.
“Which Native Tree", Andrew Crowe, Penguin Books NZ Ltd., 2001.
“New Zealand Trees – Ferns”, Alina Arkins, Reed Publishing NZ Ltd.,
2003.
Click to Exit or click <A New Zealand Tree Fern> to return to beginning.