FReD: the Floral Reflectance Database - a web portal for analyses of flower colour

Background: Flower colour is of great importance in various fields relating to floral biology and pollinator behaviour. However, subjective human judgements of flower colour may be inaccurate and are irrelevant to the ecology and vision of the flower's pollinators. For precise, detailed information about the colours of flowers, a full reflectance spectrum for the flower of interest should be used rather than relying on such human assessments. Methodology/Principal Findings: The Floral Reflectance Database (FReD) has been developed to make an extensive collection of such data available to researchers. It is freely available at http://www.reflectance.co.uk. The database allows users to download spectral reflectance data for flower species collected from all over the world. These could, for example, be used in modelling interactions between pollinator vision and plant signals, or analyses of flower colours in various habitats. The database contains functions for calculating flower colour loci according to widely-used models of bee colour space, reflectance graphs of the spectra and an option to search for flowers with similar colours in bee colour space. Conclusions/Significance: The Floral Reflectance Database is a valuable new tool for researchers interested in the colours of flowers and their association with pollinator colour vision, containing raw spectral reflectance data for a large number of flower species

Late Cretaceous spore-pollen zonation of the Central African Rift System (CARS), Kaikang Trough, Muglad Basin, South Sudan: angiosperm spread and links to the Elaterates Province

This paper presents a first detailed study on and new zonation scheme for the Kaikang Trough, Muglad Basin of South Sudan. The Kaikang Trough lies within the central sediment locus of the Muglad Basin, a non-marine African cratonic basin within the Central African Rift System (CARS) Two wells, KW-1 and K-4, were examined leading to the recognition of five palynological assemblage zones: K-I (early–middle Cenomanian), K-II (late Cenomanian), K-III (Turonian?–Santonian), K-IV (Campanian–Maastrichtian) and K-V (Maastrichtian). The elaterate group are peculiarly absent in otherwise rich Cenomanian palynological assemblages of the Muglad Basin. Why this is so, and the implications for the global middle Cretaceous Elaterate Province, needs some explanation. The CARS provided a range of diverse freshwater alluvial and lake-shore substrates. Its cross-continent sweep may have played a role in the evolution and dispersal of floras including early angiosperms as the rift basin of the proto-South Atlantic became a permanently flooded fjord

Phylogenetic Analyses of Cretaceous Fossils Related to Chloranthaceae and their Evolutionary Implications

Chloranthaceae were one of the first common lines during the early radiation of angiosperms, possibly reflecting adaptation to more open habitats. Phylogenetic analyses clarify the position of Cretaceous mesofossils in molecular trees of Recent taxa. Plants that produced Asteropollis pollen, with tepals adnate to a single carpel, are nested in crown group Chloranthaceae with Hedyosmum; Canrightiopsis, with three stamens and no perianth, is sister to Sarcandra and Chloranthus; and Canrightia is a stem relative that illustrates a still bisexual stage in floral reduction. Plants that produced Pennipollis pollen are related to Chloranthaceae and/or Ceratophyllum rather than monocots. Appomattoxia, which produced Tucanopollis pollen, has equivocal affinities, but Pseudoasterophyllites, with similar pollen and stems with reduced leaves, may be a link between Chloranthaceae and Ceratophyllum. These results imply that flowers became unisexual before losing the perianth, while bisexual flowers in Canrightiopsis, Sarcandra, and Chloranthus are secondarily derived from unisexual flowers