PD Dr. Anita Roth-Nebelsick

Leaves have many features that are influenced by environmental conditions. For example, the proportion of species with toothed leaf margins decreases with increasing mean annual temperature. Another important example is the increase in specific leaf mass (dry weight relative to leaf area) with increasing annual mean temperature and decreasing precipitation, which also correlates with leaf life span. Therefore, fossil leaves provide important information about the environmental conditions that prevailed during their lifetime. This information is obtained statistically and therefore requires larger amounts of data. To support the use of fossil foliage in research, the MORPHYLL database project aims to create an Internet resource which makes data sets on fossil leaf traits from the Paleogene to the Neogene available.

Related publications:

• Kunzmann, L., Moraweck, K., Müller, C., Schröder, I., Wappler, T., Grein, M., Roth-Nebelsick, A. (2019) A Paleogene leaf flora (Profen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany) and its potentials for palaeoecological and palaeoclimate reconstructions. Flora, 254,71-87.
• Roth-Nebelsick, A., Grein, M., Traiser, C., Kunzmann, L., Kvaček, Wypich, J., Kovar-Eder, J. (2021) Taxon-specific variability of leaf traits in three long-ranging fossil-species of the Paleogene and Neogene: Responses to climate? Palaeontologia Electronica, download: https://doi.org/10.26879/1114
• Traiser, C., Roth-Nebelsick, A., Grein, M., Kovar-Eder, J., Kunzmann, L., Moraweck, K., Lange, J., Kvaček, J., Neinhuis, C., Folie, A. (2018). MORPHYLL: A a database of fossil leaves and their morphological traits. Palaeontologia Electronica. 21(1), 1-17, download: https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/pdfs/773.pdf
• Roth-Nebelsick, A., Grein, M., Traiser, C., Moraweck, K., Kunzmann, L., Kovar-Eder, J., Kvaček, J., Stiller, S., Neinhuis, C. (2017) Functional leaf traits and leaf economics in the Paleogene — A case study for Central Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 472, 1-14.

Project participants:
SMNS: Anita Roth-Nebelsick (project leader), Johanna Eder (taxonomic determination), Christopher Traiser (programming), Jörg Lange (server), Matthias Krause (sample preparation, image creation)

Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden: Lutz Kunzmann (taxonomic determination)

Funded within the TRR 141 ("Biological Design and Integrative Structures - Analysis, Simulation and Implementation in Architecture") and carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Mechanics (Civil Engineering), the project investigates the formation of extracellular ice in frost hardy plants. A central feature of this ability which is wide-spread in plants of colder climate zones is the existence and/or creation of special spaces within the plants, where ice can form without harming living cells. The clarification of the underlying processes should provide insights that are also relevant for new building materials.
 
Cross-section through the bark of a twig of a birch birch (Betula nana) in the frozen winter state. The blue arrows indicate ice formed between the cells.

Related publications:

• Konrad, W., Schott, R., Roth-Nebelsick, A. (2019) A model for extracellular freezing based on observations on Equisetum hyemale. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 478,161-168.
• Schott, R T., Neinhuis, C., Roth‐Nebelsick, A. (2020). Extracellular ice formation in special intercellular air spaces in Stachys byzantina C. Koch. Feddes Repertorium, 131(4), 233-243, download: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fedr.202000014
• Schott R.T., Roth-Nebelsick, A. (2018) Ice nucleation in stems of trees and shrubs with different frost resistance. IAWA Journal39: 177-190.
• Schott, R., Voigt, D., Roth-Nebelsick, A. (2017) Extracellular ice management in the frost hardy horsetail Equisetum hyemale L. Flora. 234, 207-214.

Related exhibition (virtual tour):

https://naturkundemuseum-bw.de/entdecken/virtueller-besuch/baubionik

Project participants:
SMNS: Anita Roth-Nebelsick (project leader biological subproject), Rena Schott (PhD student in the project)
University of Stuttgart: Wolfgang Ehlers (project management engineering subproject, Lukas Eurich (PhD student in the project)

https://www.trr141.de/

The Internet resource DIGIPHYLL is being developed in cooperation with the University of Hohenheim to offer a digital tool which supports determination of fossil leaves. DIGIPHYLL is a digital key with image gallery and rich information material for download. In order to show the relation of fossil species to today's plant world, additional living related plant species are described, with reference to specimens available in the Hohenheim Gardens. DIGIPHYLL will be publicly available. The project is funded by the MWK under the program "Kleine Fächer ".

https://mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/service/presse/pressemitteilung/pid/kleine-faecher-wissenschaftsministerium-foerdert-sechs-exoten-in-freiburg-tuebingen-heidel/BPr

Project participants:
SMNS: Anita Roth-Nebelsick (project leader), Johanna Eder (description of the fossil species), Christopher Traiser (programming), Jörg Lange (server), Matthias Krause (sample preparation, image creation)

University of Hohenheim - Hohenheim Gardens: Helmut Dalitz (description and photographs of living related woody species, connection to the internet resources of the Hohenheim Gardens)