CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The Saltgrasses are pioneer plants in the early stages of succession in saline soils and constitute particularzonal communities of low species variability. Phytolith assemblage analysis of these species allows a communitytype to be characterized that consists mainly of species with well-defined environmental adaptations,which are significant because of their paleoecological importance. The aim of the present study is to characterizephytolith assemblages of Distichlis species in South America, emphasizing their leaf morphotypes.Four Distichlis species, mainly of South American distribution, and four chloridoids species from differentclades of the subfamily (Lycurus, Eragrostis, Muhlenbergia and Sporobolus) were selected for this study. Thephytoliths were obtained following Labouriau´s calcination technique. Quantitative analysis of the morphotypeabundance in the phytolith assemblages studied allowed the three main groups to be distinguished, withthe common presence of multicellular phytoliths with long, short, bulliform and subepidermal silicified cells,as well as unicellular phytoliths, such as short narrow saddle, prickles and hairs, polyhedral and long elongatetypes. Conversely, the exclusive presence of horned towers, short truncated cones, circular/ovoid, papillaetrichome, silicified microhairs, and isolated and articulated irregular epidermal cell phytoliths in Monanthochloinaeclade species distinguishes them from the Muhlenbergiinae clade species with square/rectangularand subrectangular saddles and acute dumbbells. Eragrostis and Sporobolus species have shown some particularmorphotypes (such as hairs with cushions, long truncate cones, dumbbell and dumbbell/saddle). Theresults not only allowed us to identify the Distichlis species, but also to distinguish them from other grasses,including those in their subfamily; and represent a potential tool to identified halophytes environments outsideNew World saltgrasses.

enviar mensaje