Sampling fossil floras for the study of insect herbivory: how many leaves is enough?

Schachat, Sandra R.; Maccracken, S. Augusta; Labandeira, Conrad C.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-23-15-2020

Articles | Volume 23, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-23-15-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-23-15-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 1

Research article

|

21 Feb 2020

Research article |

| 21 Feb 2020

Sampling fossil floras for the study of insect herbivory: how many leaves is enough?

Sandra R. Schachat, S. Augusta Maccracken, and Conrad C. Labandeira

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-23-15-2020-supplement

Data sets

Data and code from "Sampling fossil floras for the study of insect herbivory: how many leaves is enough?", Stanford Digital Repository S. R. Schachat, S. A. Maccracken, and C. C. Labandeira https://purl.stanford.edu/vk558vn8658

Model code and software

Data and code from "Sampling fossil floras for the study of insect herbivory: how many leaves is enough?", Stanford Digital Repository S. R. Schachat, S. A. Maccracken, and C. C. Labandeira https://purl.stanford.edu/vk558vn8658

Short summary

Insects have been feeding on plants for over 300 million years. The fossil record preserves evidence of this behavior: it is possible to examine a fossilized leaf and see the spots where insects ate it or laid their eggs in it. The study of these insect traces on leaves shows us how insects have adapted to changing climates. Here, we address the question of how many leaves from a single fossil locality must be examined to permit statistically robust comparisons in deep time.