THE MORPHOLOGY AND ASSEMBLAGES OF PHYTOLITH IN POOIDEAE FROM THE QINGHAI-TIBETAN PLATEAU

Phytolith as a climate proxy is one of the most important and effective tool for reconstruction of paleoenvironments.It is necessary to investigate phytolith assemblages from plant in detail for a full understanding of the relationships between phytolith and climate.There have been limited previous study on phytolith morphology and assemblages of plants from the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and,in particular,phytolith assemblages of Pooideae from this area are little known.This study deals with the shape,size and assemblage of phytolith,based on investigation of 10 genus and 19 species of plants from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.The phytolith morphotypes from the selected species of Pooideae demonstrate that hat,tooth,Stipa bilobate and Stipa multilobate are the representative types.Meanwhile,tower,elongate,spinulate ball and point shapes are also identified.The data of statistics of phytolith indicates that some genera have the same phytolith assemblages.For example,Fustuca and Poa mainly produce point-hat shapes;Stipa bungeana and Leymus secalinus are dominated by flat-hat shapes;Stipa mainly produces Stipa bilobate;Poa and Trisetum have abundant hat and tooth shapes.