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Research Projects:
Significance of biotic and climatic reconstruction in tropical areas
Estimating past climate from fossil leaves
Environments of the first Americans
Ethiopian
highlands.
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The
size and shape of leaves of woody flowering plants are related to
the climate in which plant species live. In climates lacking a pronounced
cold season, leaf surface area is significantly positively correlated
with mean annual wet month's (all months having an average >
50 mm) rainfall. To quantify this relationship so that fossil leaves
could be used to estimate past climate in tropical Africa, leaf
morphological data were compiled from dried, pressed plant specimens
(herbarium sheets) representing species at 30 localities sampling
dry to wet areas. Corresponding climate data from the same areas
of tropical Africa were collected. Regression equations that estimate
precipitation from leaf characters were derived from these data
and used with fossil leaves from Kenya and Tanzania.
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Research Projects: Significance of biotic and climatic reconstruction in tropical areas Estimating past climate from fossil leaves Environments of the first Americans |
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