Morphometric studies of the Dactylis glomerata L. crenate phytoliths

Plants are able to accumulate silicon in a significant amount and form phytoliths that repeat the shape of the cavities containing them. Due to the high phytolith stability in the environment, they are reliable markers of paleoecological conditions. Phytolith analysis is used in many branches of science including archeology and archaeobotany. A high level of specificity is manifested in the morphometry of phytoliths. 6 habitats have been studied in the south of Western Siberia (Kulunda lowland and Altai mountains) in August 2022. A high amplitude of intraspecific and intrapopulation variability of morphometric characteristics of crenate phytoliths Dactylis glomerata has been revealed. According to the totality of all 17 morphometric parameters phytoliths of forest and herbaceous ecosystems differ from each other. Date include measurements of 1500 phytoliths of the crenate morphotype to assess intraspecific variability and 2000 phytoliths to intrapopulation variability. The ImageJ software recommended by the International Committee on Phytolith Morphometry, as well as its PhytolithsBatch plugin were used for morphometric measurements of crenates. The archive includes 4 tables for intrapopulation variability and one table for intraspecific variability. The table format is xlsx. The first line is the name of the parameters and other information. Table “Intraspecific variability of Dactylis glomerata phytoliths” the table has information about the group of phytocenoses: 1 - forest, 2 – herbaceous. Each line corresponds to the characteristics of a single phytolith.