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Silicification of Root Tissues

  • January 31, 2020
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Lux, A., Lukačová, Z., Vaculík, M., Švubová, R., Kohanová, J., Soukup, M., Martinka, M., Bokor, B., 2020. Silicification of Root Tissues. Plants 9, 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9010111 Silicon is taken up in the form of silicic acid by roots, where the silica is deposited or translocated to the above-ground tissues. Shoots – stems, leaves, flower and fruit […]

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Phytoliths encapsulate As, Cu, Mn, and Zn heavy metals!

  • January 16, 2020
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Delplace, G., Schreck, E., Pokrovsky, O. S., Zouiten, C., Blondet, I., Darrozes, J., & Viers, J. (2019). Accumulation of heavy metals in phytoliths from reeds growing on mining environments in Southern Europe. Science of The Total Environment, 135595. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969719355901   Silicon role in various reactions in the Critical Zone has been studied for a long […]

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Phytolith Radiocarbon Dating: The debate is going on!

  • December 16, 2019
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Zuo, X., & Lu, H. (2019). Phytolith Radiocarbon Dating: A Review of Previous Studies in China and the Current State of the Debate. Frontiers in plant science, 10. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.01302/full This paper reviews the various aspects of the debate regarding the reliability of phytolith carbon dating. Although it is more slanted toward “believing in the reliability of phytolith […]

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Researchers examining a soil profile (Photo: Martins, A. 10/2019)

Phytoliths and Soil Classification in Brazil, what do these have in common?

  • November 28, 2019
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Phytoliths and Soil Classification have many things in common!!!!! The use of a multiproxy approach to understand vegetation changes and the genesis of soils in Neotropical regions constitutes an area of investigation of great interest, which has recently attracted much attention in Brazil. In this context, the analysis of phytoliths is used as a complementary […]

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The new code for phytolith nomenclature, version 2.0 IS NOW published!

  • September 26, 2019
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The International Committee for Phytolith Taxonomy has worked hard !… The new international code for phytolith nomenclature is now available. We encourage all phytolith researchers to use it from now on! Thank you! Download the paper with its supplementary material can be downloaded for free on the Annals of Botany website

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Survey on grass phytolith identification: see the results!

  • September 26, 2019
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Caroline Strömberg and Tim Gallaher developed a machine learning and computer vision (ML&CV) tool for automatically identifying grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP). To make this tool better than a human at identifying GSSCP, they asked phytolith researchers to take a test. You can still take this ~10-minute anonymous survey to try to identify 14 […]

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International Phytolith Society Board elections results

  • July 8, 2019
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Dear IPS members, The election period is now over and I am pleased to formally announce the results and congratulate our new IPS board members: President-elect Doris Barboni (23 votes) Member-at-large Yansheng Gu (18 votes) Member-at-large Katharina Neumann (15 votes) During the 30 days election period we have received a total number of 26 electronic […]

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Take a survey on grass phytolith identification!

  • May 9, 2019
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Caroline Strömberg and Tim Gallaher are developing a machine learning and computer vision (ML&CV) tool for automatically identifying grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP). To make this tool better than a human at identifying GSSCP, they have to know just how good us phytolith researchers are. They need your help! Please take this ~10-minute anonymous […]

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Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa

  • May 6, 2019
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Barboni, D., Ashley, G.M., Bourel, B., Arraiz, H., Mazur, J.-C., 2019. Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 266, 23–41. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2019.03.004   In this paper we explore the importance of groundwater-fed micro-habitats in Eastern Africa and provide new pollen and phytolith data to evaluate how […]

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