Quaternary Environments Collections (Royal Alberta Museum)

Study Extent

Various sites from primarily Alberta, Canada. The QE Reference Collections are used for species identification of recovered material from palaeoenvironmental projects. These projects are primarily focused on the reconstruction of landscapes, environments, and plant communities during the past 12,000 years in Alberta. Occurrences in this database are associated with plant seeds, fruit, pollen, and other plant fragments accessioned in the QE Reference Collections. The Occurrences here excludes palaeoenvironmental plant material sampled from lake sediment cores, wetland cores, sediment, and ice.

Sampling

Sampling for modern Reference material is based on targeting dominate species occurring at a study site to compare the modern landscapes to past landscapes (data from sediment and ice samples), and field work conducted by internal museum staff to sample plant material to fill in gaps in the current Reference Collections (e.g., aquatic vascular plants). Vegetation Materials Sampling Description (for seeds, fruit, pollen): 1. Plants with mature seeds and/or reproductive structures bearing pollen (dehisced anthers) will be identified, as well as a standard plant survey will be completed. 2. An inventory of the area will identify if there is a stable population of the targeted species. If less than 100 individual plants are in the area (within 1 ha), we will attempt to collect the target species at a different location. 3. Plant components (flowers, anthers, fruit, and seeds) will be collected. Approximately 20-40 flowers or seed-bearing structures, to a maximum of 10% of available flower heads, will be collected from several individual plants in the immediate area. Approximately 1-3 individual whole plants representing each target species will be collected as a voucher specimen. Plants collected will be less than 3% of that species occurring in that site. A whole voucher plant refers to the entire plant including the roots, stems, leaves and flowers and/or fruit. For large trees or shrubs, a clipping of the plant will be taken including a branch/twig, leaves and reproductive structures. If applicable, a piece approximately 10 cm X 10 cm of the bark will also be taken from large trees and shrubs using a sterile and cleaned knife. 4. In the field and during transport, plant material will be placed into labelled paper bag, plastic sample bag, and/or plant press. 5. Collected flowers will be stored in a refrigerator at our accommodations and at the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) until processing for pollen. During transport to the RAM we will store plant material in a cooler with ice-packs. Collected whole plants will be stored in the herbarium press in a dry, well-ventilated location. The paper layers between the specimens will be replaced with dry ones on a daily bases. 6. Collected seed-bearing structures and voucher plant material will be stored in a dry, well-ventilated area until transport to the RAM where they will be processed for seeds / accessioned as voucher material. 7. At the RAM, seeds will be air-dried prior to being stored and accessioned. 8. At the RAM, flowers or pollen-bearing structures (cones) will be chemically processed to concentrate pollen. The pollen will then be placed in Silicone oil in labelled glass vials for long-term storage. 9. At the RAM, all plant material will be treated for pests, fungal, and other microbial activity by freezing the dried material in a freezer (-25˚C to -30˚C) for 2-3 weeks. 10. Prepared samples are stored long-term in appropriate housing (silicone oil for pollen, borosilicate vials for seeds/fruit/leaves) in environmentally-controlled collection rooms and cabinets.

Quality Control

Voucher plant specimens associated with seeds, fruit, and pollen Reference Collections are collected and transferred to registered herbaria; quality assessment of selected specimens are assessed regularly for quality and identification confirmed

Method steps

1. See Sampling Description

The QE collections are primarily comprised of specimens collected from Western and Central Canada with primary focus on specimens from Alberta (90%), followed by Saskatchewan (6%), British Columbia (2%), and other parts of Canada (<1%). Limited specimens are available from outside of Canada (1.5%; USA, Europe, Africa). Many of the species collected are distributed in other parts of Canada and North America and include native, cultivated, and introduced species. Collections are obtained from field work within Alberta and adjacent provinces, subsampling of registered herbarium material or other research-based institutes in Canada, and through donations (e.g., Botanical trades via Index Seminum (Seed Indexes) catalogues).