Fleming, 2014, plant ecology research lesson, S4 Lab 2
Lab 2: Identifying Plants
Prelude:
Spend ~15 minutes in the greenhouse checking on germination and progress of Lab 1. Note whatever
characteristics seem relevant: which species have germinated, which have not, mean heights of species
that have germinated, number of stems, insect or pathogen infestations, etc.
Lab group:
Group members (besides you)
Observations of your set-up
Do you foresee any interesting trends in terms of establishment and growth of your seedlings? Will any
begin to “self-thin”? Will any help each other? Will the species that seem dominant now remain so in a
month? By what measure are you counting “dominance”?
Predictions, Trends
Fleming, 2014, plant ecology research lesson, S4 Lab 2
Identifying plants:
Every ecologist has to be a taxonomist of sorts. Names matter...for example, is that plant poison oak or
blue oak? Which one would make you itch if you touch it? How could you be sure it’s poison oak you’re
avoiding and not harmless blue oak? Whatever name you use, ecologists have to be able to reliably
identify species of interest in the field, at every life stage (young vs. mature, breeding vs non-breeding,
vegetative vs. in flower, etc.) and certainly you have to tell the males from the females! Some people are
sticklers for Latin names. We will be with some species in this class, but what if you don’t know what
the names are? Imagine Dr. ______ in Honduras a couple years ago...he reported diversity numbers of
~500 species/hectare, from seedlings to mature trees! It’s easy to see how one could get overwhelmed.
In this assignment, I want you to identify plants on campus by name and description. If you don’t know
names you can use the “morphospecies” concept. Morphospecies refers to organisms distinguished by
size, shape, color, or some other descriptive feature. This is an attractive concept to apply in ecology
because it operates under the fundamental assumption that if organisms look radically different, then they
must be different species. Of course, a major tradeoff is that we may well be calling two or more distinct
species by one name, or one species by two or more names, both of which result in a false assessment of
true species richness. The morphospecies concept is widely applicable when we don’t know anything
about gene flow between the individuals we are describing, and works equally well for sexual, asexual,
and fossil species. Its main disadvantage is that features used to distinguish the “species” are subjective.
What if different researchers working on the same populations disagree on characters that distinguish
species? Also, consider cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, kale and cabbage. They all look
quite different from each other, but are in fact cultivars of the same species of mustard! So,
“morphospecies” is not a perfect use of the species concept, but it should work for us today and in the
field later.
In this activity I want you to find, describe, and be able to later identify at least 3 species from the
following functional groups (RECALL: what is a functional group?)
Trees
Shrubs
Leafy herbs, perennial
Leafy herbs, annual
Grasses
Mosses
Lichens
For each species you describe, briefly describe some identifying characters you note that could help you
ID this plant later. Take a picture of your plant with your cell phone and quiz someone from another
group next week by seeing if they can locate a specimen of a species you have described (your cell phone
photo will serve as a reference). In addition, note what life stage the plant is in (new seedling, mature, in
bud, dormant, etc), and give the plant a name. What name, you ask? Use any reference material such as a
field guide, your smart phone, ask someone, or simply give it an original name befitting its description or
ecology (“Candy’s tree” won’t really do!). Epiphytes and plant parasites are fair game! I expect this lab
will take you the entire period today, and you’ll need additional sheets of paper to document your
descriptions, due at end of lab. If you can’t find me, please leave your completed lab under my office
door.
Bonus points if you know (or can accurately reason out) which species are native! You have to be able to
describe how you know.