Modern pollen–vegetation relationship in the tropical mixed deciduous forest of the Koriya District in Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract

The present paper analyses the pollen deposition pattern in a swampy area of tropical mixed deciduous forest at the Baikunthpur Forest Range in the Koriya District of Chhattisgarh, India, based on the palynological investigation of surface samples. The palynological assemblages revealed the dominance of non-arboreal pollen taxa (NAPs: herbs) over the arboreal pollen taxa (APs: trees and shrubs). Among the arboreal taxa, trees constitute on average 41.92% of the pollen in the total pollen rain, whereas the average contribution of shrubs is only 2.19%. Among the herbaceous taxa, Poaceae (grasses) has a relatively high frequency (average 38.20%). The NAPs, on the whole, constitute on average 53.51% of the pollen in the total pollen rain. Cerealia, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Brassicaceae, Artemisia and Alternanthera reflect the agrarian activities in the study area. Cyperaceae and other marshy taxa represent boggy places around the sampling site and Typha, Lemna, Potamogeton and Nymphoides the aquatic vegetation. Pinus, Cedrus, Picea and Alnus occur in low frequencies and are exclusively wind transported from the Himalayas. Trilete fern spores and lycopods are indicative of humid climatic condition.

Surface pollen and its relationship with modern vegetation in tropical deciduous forests of southwestern Madhya Pradesh, India: a review

“…are found sporadically in low frequencies despite being common elements of the forest (Table 2). This under-representation of these elements is attributable to their low pollen production since most of the tropical trees exhibit a strong tendency of entomogamy (Chauhan 1994(Chauhan , 2008Vincens et al 1997;Quamar & Chauhan 2007, 2011aQuamar & Bera 2013a, 2013c. The low pollen dispersal efficiency as well as poor preservation of their pollen in the sediments and differential recognition of poorly preserved grains also cannot be ruled out.…”

“…Besides, good preservation of its pollen in the sediments as well as high dispersal efficiency of its pollen cannot be ruled out. Teak (Tectona grandis) is also recorded in appreciable values in the teak-dominated forest at Kishanpur and I-N Road, whereas in Shahganj it has been recorded in traces owing to its sporadic presence in the forest; however, its low pollen dispersal efficiency also cannot be denied (Quamar & Chauhan 2013a;Quamar & Bera 2013a, 2013c. The rest of the tropical elements such as Syzygium, Lagerstroemia, Mitragyna, Adina cordifolia, Shorea robusta, Aegle marmelos, Emblica officinalis etc.…”

“…However, in South Asia, especially India and Sri Lanka, Bonnefille et al (1999), Anupama et al (2000), Barboni and Bonnefille (2001) have conducted studies to address the modern pollen deposition pattern in tropical evergreen and deciduous forests. From the Indian context, several studies have also been conducted to address the problem, for example, from the foothills of the Himalaya (Sharma 1985;Gupta & Yadav 1992;Chauhan & Sharma 1993;Quamar and Srivastava, 2013;Ranhotra andBhattacharayya, 2013), Kashmir (Vishnu-Mittre 1966;Vishnu-Mittre & Sharma 1966, Vishnu-Mittre & Robert 1971, Ladakh (Bhattacharyya 1989a), Himachal Pradesh (Sharma 1973;Bhattacharayya 1989bBhattacharayya , 1989cBera & Gupta 1990), tropical deciduous scrub vegetation in Rajasthan desert (Singh et al 1973), eastern Madhya Pradesh (Chauhan 1994(Chauhan , 2008Quamar & Chauhan 2007), southwestern Madhya Pradesh (Quamar & Chauhan 2010, 2011a, 2011bChauhan & Quamar 2012a, Chhattisgarh (Quamar & Bera 2013a, 2013c, Silent Valley, south India (Gupta & Bera 1996), Tamil Nadu (Bera & Gupta 1992), Uttar Pradesh (Sharma et al 2007;Trivedi & Chauhan 2011)), northeast India (Gupta & Sharma 1985;Bera & Gupta 1992;Bera 2000;Basumatary & Bera 2007Dixit & Bera 2011, 2013…”

Modern pollen and its ecological relationships with the tropical deciduous forests of central Uttar Pradesh, India

“…These pollen grains might have low sporopollenin content in their exines that could have acted in a negative way to degrade the pollen grains of these plants (Havinga 1984). The pollen of teak (Tectona grandis) has been recorded in trace amounts owing to its sporadic presence on the forest floor; however, its low pollen dispersal efficiency also cannot be excluded (Quamar & Bera 2015). The high pH value of soil as well as the microbial and chemical degradation of the pollen grains of these taxa in the sediments might have been detrimental factors contributing to the scarcity of pollen of these plants in the sediments (Sharma 1985;Bera et al 2008).…”

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“…Study of modern pollen rain and its relationship with the present vegetation is a prerequisite for the reconstruction and interpretation of past vegetation and climatic changes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. The modern pollen rain not only serves as a monologue in interpreting the past vegetation and climate but also helps in understanding the behavior of a single species in relation to their reproduction and dispersal nature [8,9] which widely varies in different species of plants.…”