A modern pollen rain study from the central Andes region of South America

Abstract

Aim To provide a greater understanding of the modern pollen rain for the central Andes region of South America, thus laying the groundwork for future pollen studies and the derivation of pollen‐climate transfer functions and response surfaces. Location Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Methods Standard palynological techniques for surface soil sampling and discriminant analysis. Results Statistical analysis of the 40 surface samples revealed four palynologically distinct assemblages: (1) the Yungas on the eastern slopes of the Andes; (2) the puna grasslands of the Altiplano; (3) the Coastal Deserts to the west of the Andes; and (4) the Southern Bolivian Highlands. Main conclusions The Yungas group is characterized by high percentages of Urticaceae/Moraceae pollen and fern spores along with trace amounts of pollen from common zoophilous lowland taxa such as Piperaceae, Bignoniaceae and Malpighiaceae. The puna assemblage of the Altiplano is characterized by the dominance of grass (Poaceae) in combination with moderate frequencies of Asteraceae pollen, which tend to increase slightly towards the southern (drier) locations of the Altiplano. Lower percentages of grass pollen and the greater prevalence of Asteraceae, Solanaceae, and the Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae families define the coastal deserts to the west of the Andes. Samples taken from the Southern Bolivian Highlands are characterized by the dominance of Solanaceae in the area, in combination with the pollen of other xerophytic taxa.

First report of modern pollen deposition in moss polsters in a semiarid area of Bahia, Brazil

“…Similar results were obtained by Gomes et al (2014). Furthermore, regarding the pollen representation of local and regional flora in natural collectors, Reese & Liu (2005) provided an extensive report for Puna vegetation in the central Andes. In a modern pollen rain study of 40 soil surface samples, the authors detected four distinct pollen assemblages in which the pollen types reflected their local vegetation.…”

Pollen source areas of lakes with inflowing rivers: modern pollen influx data from Lake Baiyangdian, China

“…Discriminant Analysis and Cluster Analysis are effective methods of measuring the similarities and dissimilarities among pollen assemblages (Liu and Lam, 1985;Lynch, 1996;Reese and Liu, 2005). Here, Discriminant Analysis and Cluster Analysis were carried out on a dataset of pollen percentages of 15 major taxa, including Pinus, Betula, Quercus, Populus, Salix, Ulmus, Elaeagnaceae, Ostryopsis, Artemisia, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Compositae, Humulus, Urtica and Polygonum.…”

Estudio de la relación polen-vegetación actual en el Norte de Chile, en el transecto Pozo Almonte-Salar de Huasco (20º15’S/69º06’O)

“…El grupo I, entre 3050 y 3400 m, muestra el dominio exclusivo de Chenopodiaceae (Atriplex imbricata), pudiendo relacionarse al piso prepuneño descrito por otros autores para un amplio rango latitudinal (Villagrán et al 1983(Villagrán et al , 2003 y asociada a bajos montos de precipitaciones, característicos de la parte inferior del gradiente de humedad del altiplano (Latorre et al 2002, 2003, Reese & Liu 2005. La presencia de otros taxa arbustivos como Baccharis boliviensis, Fabiana densa, Ephedra breana y Parastrephia quadrangularis hacia el final de la zona de mayor altitud dan cuenta de la transición hacia el Tolar.…”

“…Si bien este resultado concuerda con diferentes estudios sobre lluvia polínica realizados en la puna altiplánica de Perú, Bolivia y Chile (Hansen et al 1984, Graf 2001, Reese & Liu 2005, Kuentz et al 2007, éstos no diferencian entre los tipos polínicos Asteraceae tipo Senecio y Asteraceae tipo Baccharis, lo cual fue posible en este trabajo gracias a la colección de referencia que evidenció variaciones en el tamaño del grano de polen, siendo el grano de Senecio/ Parastrephia mayor a Baccharis (Fig. 4) El grupo III, entre 4000-4100 m, definido como piso altoandino, presenta altos valores de porcentaje de Poaceae (23 -59%) a lo largo de todo el grupo al igual de lo que ocurre con su cobertura vegetal.…”