Modern pollen samples provide an invaluable research tool for helping to interpret the quaternary fossil pollen record, allowing investigation of the relationship between pollen as the proxy and the environmental parameters such as vegetation, land-use, and climate that the pollen proxy represents. The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) is a new initiative within the European Pollen Database (EPD) to establish a publicly accessible repository of modern (surface sample) pollen data. This new database will complement the EPD, which at present holds only fossil sedimentary pollen data. The EMPD is freely available online to the scientific community and currently has information on almost 5,000 pollen samples from throughout the Euro-Siberian and Mediterranean regions, contributed by over 40 individuals and research groups. Here we describe how the EMPD was constructed, the various tables and their fields, problems and errors, quality controls, and continuing efforts to improve the available data
This paper presents the results of a combined palynological and palaeoentomological investigation into the changing diversity of Holocene floodplain forest biota at Bole Ings in the lower reaches of the River Trent. The aim in combining the two techniques represents an attempt to overcome some of the inherent differences of scale and resolution which characterize different types of fossil species data. The two lines of ecofactual evidence, pollen and beetle remains indicate changes in the biodiversity of the floodplain, both in terms of the diversity and abundance of individual species, habitats and ecosystem structure. The results of the study demonstrate the potential of this approach in tracing the decline in plant and entomofaunal diversity at the floodplain forest margin. Although there are recognized limitations imposed by taphonomic uncertainties, taxonomic resolution and restricted ecological data, the combined results provide added details of variations in both species composition and structural diversity within the landscape. The results emphasize the need for multidisciplinary research design in palaeoecological investigations of biodiversity.
Studies of modern pollen rain from remote islands have raised a number of interesting issues concerning the spatial precision of present‐day pollen spectra in relation to their parent plant community types. This paper examines the relationships and degree of correlation between a sequence of contemporary vegetation types, environments and their associated surface pollen spectra from a transect across the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Paired data on both contemporary vegetation and associated surface pollen assemblages have been collected and analysed using methods of numerical classification and ordination. In general terms, the modern pollen rain on South Uist reflects the major changes in vegetation pattern and the major community types fairly closely. The major boundary between the alkaline machair sand dune communities and the various acidic upland vegetation types is particularly clear. However, both variability in the vegetation and the effects of the strong prevailing westerly and south‐westerly winds tend to blur the boundaries of the various communities within each of these larger categories. On average 86.6% of the palynomorphs come from in‐community quadrat sources, while only 1.3% are from off‐island sources. The limited present‐day tree distribution on the transect is discussed in the context of the more widespread distribution of arboreal pollen. Overall, there is a strong numerical correspondence between vegetation, pollen and environmental variables. The various problems inherent in examining surface pollen spectra are reviewed.
This paper suggests that sediment depth-age anomalies, and the lithological and palaeoecological properties of a peat core from Borve mire on the Outer Hebridean island of Barra, reflect the episodic impacts of rapid mass-movement of superficial peats and mineral soils from the adjacent hillslopes in the period 3000 to 1750 14C years BP. Alternative explanations such as mismeasurement of radiocarbon or contamination by floods, are thought less likely. The research implies that there is a general need for caution in the interpretation of mire deposits from sites which are adjacent to steep peat-covered hillslopes and which have not been investigated with the support of substantial radiocarbon and lithological studies programmes. The environmental and vegetational history of this exposed and isolated Atlantic island is shown to have not been one of treeless homogeneity. A variety of deciduous and coniferous tree species colonized early in the Holocene, with distinctive birch-hazel woodland developing at one point in time. The landscape became increasingly treeless in the Bronze Age, with most but not all trees having been lost by the Medieval period. Valley side peats provide palynological evidence of pastoral and arable farming on poor soils in the Dark Age-Early Medieval period, at sites beyond the present limits of cultivation.
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