The Spatial Analysis of Modern Pollen Rain in Big Bend National Park

Siska, Peter P.; Bryant, Vaughn; Jones, John G.

doi:10.2113/0250199

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Isopoll maps allowed us to characterize spatial patterns of the pollen types analysed for comparison with the distribution of the potential natural vegetation. Pollen percentages were interpolated by applying the kriging method, which is an unbiased estimator and has the smallest square‐error prediction (Siska et al. , 2001).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern vegetation–pollen–climate relationships for the Pampa grasslands of Argentina

Tonello

Prieto

2008

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim To analyse the relationships between potential natural vegetation, pollen and climate in order to improve the interpretation of fossil pollen records and provide the background for future quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstructions. Location Pampa grasslands of Argentina, between 33–41° S and 56–67° W. Methods Modern pollen data were obtained from a pollen data base developed by the Grupo de Investigación de Paleoecología y Palinología, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina (143 surface samples and 17 pollen types). Analysis of pollen and climate data involved multivariate statistics (cluster analysis and principal components analysis), scatter diagrams, Pearson’s correlation and isopoll mapping. Results Vegetation patterns at regional scales (grasslands and xerophytic woodlands) and local scales (edaphic communities) were identified by cluster analysis of pollen surface samples. The main climatic variables that appear to constrain the vegetation distribution and abundance of taxa are mean annual precipitation, annual effective precipitation and summer temperature. Individual pollen types such as Chenopodiaceae, Apiaceae, Cyperaceae, Prosopis, Schinus, Condalia microphylla and other xerophytic taxa are good indicators of moisture regime. Many pollen types are significantly correlated with summer temperature. The modern vegetation–pollen–climate relationships vary in a broadly predictable manner, supporting the contention that fossil pollen assemblages can be related to particular climatic characteristics. Main conclusions An expanded suite of modern analogues facilitated new insights into vegetation–pollen–climate relationships at the regional scale in Pampa grasslands. Relationships between individual pollen types and climate are appraised at a regional scale and new modern analogues are presented. The results provide the basis for improved vegetation and climate reconstruction from fossil records of the study area.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern vegetation–pollen–climate relationships for the Pampa grasslands of Argentina

Tonello

Prieto

2008

Journal of Biogeography

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“…These wind dispersed pollen grains are useful forensically in that they are generally aerodynamic, relatively simple in morphology with thin walls, preserve easily, and are found on most surfaces well after the end of the flowering season. About 95% of all pollen grains produced by anemophilous plants will fall within 2 km of the parent plant and in many cases within 100 m of the dispersal source [49,50]. However, great care must be taken in applying palaeoecological sinking speed models to all forensic scenes as experimental transect evidence shows that pine can fall from 80% at source to 4.0% within 50 m. Residuality, redeposition, local disturbance, etc., are other issues that must be considered.…”

Section: Abundance and Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic palynology: Why do it and how it works

Mildenhall

Wiltshire

Bryant

2006

Forensic Science International

110

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“…The high productivity and mobility of Pinus pollen is reflected in its comprising a significant component of the pollen assemblage for the entire study area, despite the tree being found at only a few urban sites. Similarly, Pinus has been found to be one of the dominant pollen types, with highest pollen abundances occurring nearest to source areas, in studies elsewhere in the south‐western US (Siska et al. , 2001; see also Webb et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Thus, a few anemophilous plants growing regionally, or even just locally, result in a significant background pollen‐rain in Sonoran Desert surface sediment samples (see also Bryant & Schoenwetter, 1987; Bryant & Hall, 1993; Bryant et al. , 1994; Siska et al. , 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, such research frequently fails to assess patterning in pollen from zoophilous plants, spatial patterning in fine‐scale vegetation data, or how these patterns relate to variations in local environmental and ecological conditions. Moreover, patterns of pollen distribution after it has settled on the ground have been given relatively little attention (Siska et al. , 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The relationship between pollen and extant vegetation across an arid urban ecosystem and surrounding desert in Southwest USA

Stuart

Gries

Hope

2006

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim In this paper, we explore the relationship between pollen concentration in surface soil and extant perennial vegetation across a rapidly urbanizing arid ecosystem along with its surrounding agricultural and native Sonoran Desert land. We also investigate whether taxa behave as expected from known pollination characteristics (e.g. anemophilous vs. zoophilous) and whether the pollen-plant relationship differs between the undeveloped desert and agro-urban regions.Location We used a probability-based sampling scheme at 200, 900-m 2 sites across the Central Arizona-Phoenix region, a 6400-km 2 area of the south-western USA.Methods Pollen-plant abundances were mapped across the study area using interpolation techniques, summary bar charts and scatterplots, then two statistical approaches were applied to examine the data quantitatively. Firstly, we used regression analysis of paired pollen concentration and plant cover data; secondly, pc-ord was used on a cross-matrix (contingency table) containing the presence/ absence scores of both pollen and plants for each taxon at each site. ResultsMapping and quantitative analysis revealed that pollen-plant relationships do vary both between anemophilous and zoophilous groupings and by individual taxon. They also revealed that distribution patterns of both pollen and plant abundance vary consistently across the three main landscape types (desert, urban, agricultural) and that pollen taxa groupings are consistent with pollination method and source plant distribution regardless of landscape type.Main conclusions These findings provide a broad range of comparative data to facilitate palynological reconstruction of past vegetation and aid in assessing types of prehistoric impacts on this vegetation. They also document that significant variation can occur in pollen rain across a city, even for taxa with widely distributed pollen, leading to the conclusion that forecasting pollen distribution patterns for allergy-related pollen types using only one or a few pollen traps is likely to entail substantial error.

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The Spatial Analysis of Modern Pollen Rain in Big Bend National Park

Cited by 6 publications

References 29 publications

Modern vegetation–pollen–climate relationships for the Pampa grasslands of Argentina

Modern vegetation–pollen–climate relationships for the Pampa grasslands of Argentina

Forensic palynology: Why do it and how it works

The relationship between pollen and extant vegetation across an arid urban ecosystem and surrounding desert in Southwest USA

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