Signals of tree volume and temperature in a high‐resolution record of pollen accumulation rates in northern Finland

Abstract

Pollen accumulation rates (PARs) provide a potential proxy for quantitative tree volume (m 3 ha À1 ) reconstruction with reliable absolute pollen productivity estimates (APPEs). We obtained APPEs for pine, spruce and birch at their range limits in northern Finland under two temperature periods ('warm' and 'cold') based on long-term pollen trap and tree volume records within a 14-km radius of each trap. APPEs (mean AE SE; Â 10 8 grains m À3 a À1 ) tend to be higher for the 'warm' periods (pine 123.8 AE 24.4, birch 528.0 AE 398.4, spruce 434.3 AE 113.7) compared with the 'cold' periods (pine 95.5 AE 37.3, birch 317.3 AE 282.6, spruce 119.6 AE 37.6), although the difference is only significant for spruce. Using an independent temperature record and the APPEs obtained, we reconstruct a low-frequency record of pine volume changes over the last 1000 years at Palomaa mire, where a high-resolution record of Pinus PARs is available. Five phases are distinguished in the reconstruction: moderate pine volumeThese phases do not coincide with periods of high or low June-July-August temperatures, and thus appear to reflect regional variations in tree volume, while high-frequency changes within each time-period block show variations in PARs in response to temperature.

Pollen production estimates (PPEs) and fall speeds for major tree taxa and relevant source areas of pollen (RSAP) in Changbai Mountain, northeastern China

“…We selected a reference taxon based on the criterion that it appears consistently and abundantly in both pollen and vegetation data sets. Many studies have chosen Poaceae as a reference taxon (Räsänen et al, 2007;Mazier et al, 2008Mazier et al, , 2012Abraham and Kozakova, 2012). However, in our study area, Quercus is the most widely distributed species, and shows a positive relationship between pollen and vegetation (Fig.…”

“…Climate variation may affect pollen production differentially for different species (Nielsen et al, 2010;Matthias et al, 2012;Mazier et al, 2012), and is likely also to affect relative PPE values in climatically different regions. The PPEs for the same pollen taxon in different regions, where there exist different plant species, may then be found to vary .…”

Palynological perspectives on vegetation survey: a critical step for model-based reconstruction of Quaternary land cover

“…annual pollen influx, biomass), then a i can be calculated directly using linear regression analysis on the data for each taxon (Sugita et al, 2010a;Mazier et al, 2012b). However, in many cases at least one of these parameters is measured in relative units and values are only available in percentages.…”

“…Pollen data may be collected from traps (e.g. Sugita et al, 2010a;Mazier et al, 2012b), moss polsters (e.g. Andersen, 1970;Hjelle, 1998;Broström et al, 2004;Mazier et al, 2008;von Stedingk et al, 2008) or lake surface sediments (e.g.…”

Replicability of data collected for empirical estimation of relative pollen productivity

“…Andersen, 1970;Hjelle, 1998;Broström et al, 2004;Bunting et al, 2005;Mazier et al, 2008;von Stedingk et al, 2008), pollen traps (e.g. Sugita et al, 2010;Mazier et al, 2012), or lake surface sediments (e.g. Soepboer et al, 2007;Poska et al, 2011;Hjelle and Sugita, 2012;Matthias et al, 2012) with the vegetation around the sampling point.…”