About Us
News
Announcement
Research
Conservation & Horticulture
Public Education
Graduate Study
Scientist
International Cooperation
Resources
Annual Reports
Publications & Papers
Visit XTBG
Societies
XTBG Seminar
Open Positions
4th XSBN Symposium
CAS-SEABRI
PFS-Tropical Asia
Links
 
   Location:Home > Research > Research Progress
A new non-linear approach to approximate the function linking climate and physiognomy
Author: LI Shufeng
ArticleSource:
Update time: 2015-12-10
Close
Text Size: A A A
Print

There is a relationship linking climate and physiology independent of taxonomic composition; however, we have little idea of the form of the function, how complex it is , and its parameters. Non-linear relationships should be sought to improve the precision of paleoclimatic reconstruction from leaf physiognomy.
   Prof. ZHOU Zhekun and his team of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) conducted a study ti explore a different way of revealing the information content of physiognomic space. They explored a new non-linear approach to approximate the function linking climate and physiognomy. The general regression neural network (GRNN) is a type of artificial neural network (ANN) that can approximate to both linear and nonlinear regressions As such the GRNN is a useful technique to investigate the climate and physiognomy relationship. They tested GRNN on two different physiognomy data sets and compared their results with those obtained from other computational methods. They also tested the GRNN using different physiognomic characters and fossil sites from North America.
The study found that the new algorithm (CLANN) revealed a high-resolution climatic signal in leaf form. Tests showed that the predictions were repeatable, and robust to information loss and applicable to fossil leaf data. The CLANN neural network algorithm was applicable to fossil leaf data and could form a new climate proxy.
 The study entitled “Artificial neural networks reveal a high-resolution climatic signal in leaf physiognomy” has been published online in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
  Appendix Download
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
Copyright XTBG 2005-2014 Powered by XTBG Information Center