Preparation of Samples for Leaf Architecture Studies, A Method for Mounting Cleared Leaves
Premise of the study: Several recent waves of interest in leaf architecture have shown an expanding range of approaches and applications across a number of disciplines. Despite this increased interest, examination of existing archives of cleared and mounted leaves shows that current methods for moun...
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Published in | Applications in plant sciences Vol. 2; no. 9; pp. 1400038 - n/a |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Botanical Society of America
01.09.2014
John Wiley & Sons, Inc Wiley |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Premise of the study: Several recent waves of interest in leaf architecture have shown an expanding range of approaches and applications across a number of disciplines. Despite this increased interest, examination of existing archives of cleared and mounted leaves shows that current methods for mounting, in particular, yield unsatisfactory results and deterioration of samples over relatively short periods. Although techniques for clearing and staining leaves are numerous, published techniques for mounting leaves are scarce. Methods and Results: Here we present a complete protocol and recommendations for clearing, staining, and imaging leaves, and, most importantly, a method to permanently mount cleared leaves. Conclusions: The mounting protocol is faster than other methods, inexpensive, and straightforward; moreover, it yields clear and permanent samples that can easily be imaged, scanned, and stored. Specimens mounted with this method preserve well, with leaves that were mounted more than 35 years ago showing no signs of bubbling or discoloration. |
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Bibliography: | This research was partially funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (DEB‐0918600 to D.C.D.). The work of one of the coauthors (M.T.) was supported by NSF grant DEB‐082762 to D. W. Stevenson. The authors thank E. González for sharing experiences in restoring cleared leaf preparations, L. Calvillo‐Canadell for sharing her resin mounting protocol, and M. Pfeffer for taking most of the photos for the figures. This paper is dedicated to the memory of L. Hickey, pioneer leaf architect. Current address: Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Circuito Exterior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, A.P. 70‐367 Mexico D.F., C.P. 04510, Mexico Current address: Fundação Unesco‐HidroEX, Frutal, Minas Gerais, Brazil ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 2168-0450 2168-0450 |
DOI: | 10.3732/apps.1400038 |