VARIABILITY OF CINNAMOMUM (LAURACEAE) LEAF ARCHITECTURE IN RELATION TO CLIMATIC AND HISTORICAL CONSTRAINTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PALEOCLIMATIC STUDIES

Premise of research. Fossil leaves are commonly used as proxies for continental paleoclimate reconstruction. In particular, temperature and precipitation variables are derived from taxon-free methods using only fossil leaf morphology. Although there is a general relationship between leaf form and climate at a global scale, possible differences between and within angiosperm families remain little explored.Methodology. In this article, we analyzed the influence of phylogenetic relatedness and climate on leaf architecture in 30 species of Cinnamomum (Lauraceae). Nineteen morphological features were selected and documented on the basis of digitized herbarium specimens. Repeatability was measured for all traits. Phylogenetic signal was measured using Blomberg’s K. The relationship between morphological variables and climatic variables was investigated using univariate and multivariate statistical approaches.Pivotal results. Our analysis revealed that phylogenetic signal was mainly observed in traits linked to ...