Photographic plates

1
Photographic plates

• Participants are encouraged to document the
  morphology, biology and/or ecology of 3 (or more)
  species as a series of photographic plates
• One plate will be earmarked for DNA Barcoding
  study
• Species sign-ups to minimize overlap
• Plates will be edited and, ultimately,
  incorporated into a series of informal
  identification guides tied to a BRS reference
  collection and the BdT biodiversity database
• Spanish/English
• Features may be documented as
• In situ images
• Herbarium specimens (scanned-in)
• Digital photographs
• Ecology, microscopy, etc.
• Line drawings (scanned-in)
• etc., etc.

2
Specifications

• Each plate should include reference (images,
  text) to diagnostic features
• Habitat
• A brief description of the range of habits in
  which the featured species can be found
• Distribution
• A listing of the geographic distribution of the
  species
• BdT Distribution
• A listing of the collection localities in Bocas
  del Toro
• A brief caption to identify the featured
  attributes
• A contextual paragraph that discusses the
  identity of a species with specific reference to
  the highlighted features
• Clarification/comparisons to easily confused
  species
• A scale bar
• Relevant literature citations

3
Editorial Review

• Identification
• Is the specimen/concept accurately identified to
  species
• Scale Bar
• Must be present and accurately determined
• Should be a round number that facilitates
  conversion (e.g., 20, 50, 100 ?m, not 26.5 ?m)
• Features
• Diagnostic/illustrative features to support
  identification or illustrate concept related to
  basic ecology or biology of specimen presented
• Caption
• Accurately describes all aspects of the plate,
  including reference to each of the identified
  features, the type of preparation (e.g., cross
  section, longitudinal section), the organisms
  involved (including TFPs)
• Context Paragraph
• The features depicted in the plate are described
  in a well-developed context that orients the
  readers to the biological/ecological significance
  of the features depicted. Cited information
  should be introduced to provide appropriate
  context, and a Literature Cited section should
  also be included.
• Aesthetics
• Does the plate draw the reader in? Is it prepared
  in a professional way?
• Is the plate constructed in such a way so as to
  lead the reader through a logical progression
  (can the reader anticipate where the next feature
  is?)
• Are the labeled features easily seen in the
  images used to document the feature?
• Are the labels easy to read on the plate?

4
Some model plates from RWU undergrads

5
Figure 9. Ulva lactuca. A. Habit, B. Beach in
Bristol, RI, C. Cross-section, D. Surface of
blade showing chloroplasts. Ulva lactuca is a
green alga (A) that can be found year round and
sometimes can cover an entire shoreline (B) in
protected areas. Ulva lactuca is also known as
Sea Lettuce because it looks similar to a piece
of lettuce (A). Ulva lactuca is two cell layers
thick (C) and has distinct chloroplasts (C, D,
E). Within the chloroplast, only one pyrenoid is
present (D, E) (Villalard-Bohnsack 2003).
Karensa Gallaway, FA 2006
6
Gracilaria tikvahiae
A
C
2.5 cm
B
50 µm
D
0.5 cm
25 µm
Figure 4. (A) Non-reproductive thallus, (B)
reproductive thallus with carposporophytes
present, (C) cross section of carposporophyte
with arrow showing carpospores stored inside,
and (D) cross section of thallus. Gracilaria
tikvahiae is a red alga that can exhibit colors
ranging from yellows, greens, browns, purples,
and reds. Branching is irregular (A) and the
thallus can be flattened or cylindrical. The
thallus can be covered with reproductive bumps
(B) called carposporophytes (Villalard-Bohnsack
2003). Carposporophytes occur on the female
gametophyte thallus and they release diploid
carpospores (a cross section of a carposporophyte
shows the carpospores developing inside (C)).
This phase of life history is a defining feature
of the rhodophytes (Graham and Wilcox 2000).
Another defining feature of G. tikvahiae is found
in a cross section of the thallus where
characteristically round medullary cells are
found (D) (Villalard-Bohnsack 2003).
2.5 cm
Rachel Reynolds, FA 2006
7
A
B
5 µm
1 cm
C
D
5 µm
1 cm
Figure 1. Comparative morphology of Gratelupia
turaturu and Palmaria palmata thallus cross
sections of (B) G. turturu with filamentous
medulla and cortex and (C) P. palmata with
rounded medulla and cortex (D), pressed habit
specimens of G. turturu with epiphytes (A) and P.
palmata (C). Gratelupia turturu is a
brownish-red alga with a sleek, smooth thallus,
occasionally studded with epiphytes of other
alage (A arrow). The cortex cells on the outside
of the thallus form 4-7 securely arranged layers
(Villalard-Bohnsack 2003). G. turaturu, formerly
known as Grateloupia doryphora, is an introduced
species to the eastern United States first
documented in 1994. Its expansion has reached
farther south (Rhode Island and New York) than
they have north, possibly indicating an
intolerance to colder temperatures
(Villalard-Bohnsack and Marston). G. turaturu
bears resemblance at micro and macroscopic levels
to P. palmata but the two differ greatly in the
structure of their medullas. The G. turturu
medulla (B) is constructed of string-like
interwoven and branched filaments while the P.
palmata medulla (D) consists of large rounded
cells.
Lucy Indge, FA 2006
8
A
B
1.5 cm
C
24 µm
D
E
24 µm
F
60 µm
3 cm
2 mm
Figure 9. Morphology of Laminaria saccharina.
meiospores (A,C), sorus (B), Laminaria saccharina
(D), (E), holdfast (F) Laminaria saccharina is a
large brown seaweed, commonly referred to as kelp
(Villalard-Bohnsack 2003). The sporophyte is the
dominant stage and the gametophyte (A,C) is the
microscopic stage. The sporophytes are
differentiated into the holdfast (F), stipe, and
lamina. Sexual reproduction in Laminaria spp. is
oogamous with distinct male and female
gametophytes. When a species is reproductive,
meiotic streaking (B) occurs on the blade and is
easily seen. The sporangia are unilocular (C) and
occur on the surface of the blade, but when taken
in cross-section (A), they may fall into the
medulla giving the appearance of being an
internal structure (Graham and Wilcox 2000).
Brittany Burke, SP 2006
9
General Guidelines Page Setup

• Set your powerpoint slide to custom size 8.5
  wide x 11 high
• File Page Setup
• View guides to show non-printing guidelines
• you can set guides to visualize margins of 1.0
  along page edge
• And identify page center, etc.
• To set guidelines at page margins select View
  Guides from powerpoint menu
• Click on guide while holding option to make a new
  guideline
• 8.5 wide, guidelines _at_ 3.75 from center
• 11 high, guidelines _at_ 5 from center
• When snap to grid (Draw Menu) is selected,
  objects will snap to guides

10
General Guidelines Page Setup

• Use the same formatting style for each plate
  (e.g., position of labels, ordering of individual
  images, font, font size, image spacing, etc.)
• A crisp layout will keep the readers attention
  and promote the flow of information. You want to
  reader to know where the next piece of
  information is to be found without them having to
  search for it.

11
General Guidelines Page Setup

• It is advisable to set up a template slide that
  you can copy and paste in order to preserve your
  basic layout
• Leave the top half of your plate for images, and
  then set a text box that is 6.5 wide centered on
  the slide (that leaves a 1 margin along each
  edge of the page).
• The height of the text box will be determined by
  the extent of your context.
• You can make separate text boxes for the short
  caption and the context paragraph, or combine
  them into one, leaving at least one empty line
  between the two.
• Font
• You can use font sizes as small as 12 point, but
  dont go smaller than that.
• Use the same font and font size throughout your
  plates.
• Make sure that you italicize all Latin

12
Formatting Images

• Image quality
• The features which you choose to highlight should
  be well defined, easily identified and in focus.
  The best way to accomplish this is to use clean
  slides, and a clean microscope (use lens paper,
  not kim wipes, to clean off external glass
  surfaces of your microscope). Also ensure that
  you have tweaked the optics of your microscope
  for maximum contrast.
• Try to eliminate distracting objects from your
  images. You may need to dilute a concentrated
  sample to minimize the amount of detritus, or
  non-target species from the background of your
  image. Alternately, use line drawings.
• Since most of the microscopes have a micrometer
  in one ocular and a needle in the other, it may
  be impossible to remove these distractions from
  your raw image. However, you can construct your
  image so that you can crop these parts of the
  photograph out later. If your target is small
  enough, arrange your photograph so that the
  target does not overlap with the micrometer or
  needle.
• To crop your image, you can double click the
  image (Format picture/object) and crop the image
  set distances in the picture tab, or you can
  insert a crop tool button on the draw menu
  (which is much easier) by customizing your tool
  bars.
• You can sometimes improve the appearance of an
  image by altering the brightness and contrast. To
  do this, double click the image (or Format
  Object/Picture) and change these parameters in
  the picture tab.

13
Formatting Images

• Image placement
• Put your images within each plate in a logical
  arrangement. They should be labeled in
  alphabetical order from left to right as best as
  possible. Depending on the number and size of
  your images you may find a clockwise labeling
  scheme to be more effective. Just be consistent
  with your formatting so that the reader always
  knows where to expect to find the next image in
  your sequence of information.
• Image spacing
• Try to place your images within each plate so
  that all images are surrounded by an equal amount
  of white space. In other words the space between
  the top and bottom of two images (or between the
  edge of an image and the margin) should be the
  same as the space between the left and right
  sides of two other images. One way to accomplish
  this (especially if your images must overlap at
  all) is to use white borders on all of your
  images.
• Use Align or Distribute (Drawing menu) feature
  of Powerpoint to orient your images relative to
  one another or to the slide. Distribute will
  evenly space all selected objects/images relative
  to the slide in either the horizontal or vertical
  plane.

14
Formatting Image Labels

• Label positions
• I think it is most effective to place image
  labels in the upper left hand corner of the
  image, simply because we read from left to right.
  
• You might also consider using the shadow font
  style (Format Font shadow) to enhance the
  contrast of the label relative to the background
  of your photomicrograph.
• Use the alignment tools (draw menu) to have a
  consistent placement of the letter within each
  image. For example, select the letter label and
  the image (hold the shift key while you select
  multiple objects), then in the draw menu, select
  Align Top, then Align Left. Do this for each of
  your images and your labels will always be in the
  same relative position for each image. This is
  the kind of anal editing that will make your
  plate sharper and really pop.
• Once your labels and your images are aligned you
  can group these objects so that you can move them
  around the slide as one object if needed (Draw
  Menu Group).

15

• Alignment
• To align images relative to each other, make sure
  relative to slide is not checked

16
Making Scale Bars

• Youll need to have some reference for size in
  all of your images/drawings, but you dont want
  the ocular micrometer to interfere with your
  image
• You may wish to record 2 images (one with the
  ocular scale in it, one without the ocular
  scale). For each image, you will still need some
  notes as to which objective you were on so you
  can apply the appropriate calibration
• I recommend sketching the image and recording an
  appropriate size reference by hand.
• Making a scale bar
• Draw your calibrated line.
• 2x-click on line (Format Autoshape)
• Go to size tab
• Set up cross multiplication equation as follows
• (Line length in PP/known line length)
  (x/desired scale bar length)
• Then change line length/width in size tab to
  value determined from equation
• See next slide for specific example

17
Fig. 1. Morphology of Cladophora aegagropila.

• Lets say the line on the upper right image
  represents 26.5 ?m. This is not a convenient
  scale to work with, so lets make a scale bar
  that is 20 ?m.
• The line as drawn is 1.05 (which you can
  determine by double-clicking the line, then click
  on the size tab and view the line height/width
  information).
• So we know that 1.05 on the image represents
  26.5 ?m.
• And we also know that our new scale bar should be
  a little bit smaller than the current scale bar,
  so were going to have to reduce the height of
  the existing scale bar a little bit.
• To figure out how long the new scale bar should
  be, simply set up a cross multiplication
  equation
• (1.05/26.5?m)(x/desired scale bar length)
• (1.05/26.5?m)(x/20?m)
• (1.0520)26.5x
• 2126.5x
• x 21/26.5 .7925
• Now, just set the new line height to 0.7925 and
  that will represent an actual length of 20?m?(of
  course, youll also want to orient the line so
  that it is either horizontal or vertical, and in
  a reliable position generally near the bottom
  left/right of the image)

18
Making Scale Bars

• If all of your images/drawings are on the same
  scale, you need only include one scale bar/plate,
  but you must indicate (in your short caption)
  that the scale bar applies to all images/drawings

19
Formatting Scale Bars

• Scale Bars
• As with the letter labels, try to put your scale
  bars in a consistent location within each image -
  generally the lower left hand corner.
• Use the alignment tools (draw menu) to have a
  consistent placement of the scale bar within each
  image.
• The scale bar units can be aligned with the
  actual bar on the left hand edges for consistent
  presentation. Then you can group these together
  and align this object to the left and bottom
  edges of your image.