New pollen classification of Chenopodiaceae for exploring and tracing desert vegetation evolution in eastern arid central Asia

Abstract

Members of the Chenopodiaceae are the most dominant elements in the central Asian desert. The different genera and species within this family are common in desert vegetation types. Should it prove possible to link pollen types in this family to specific desert vegetation, it would be feasible to trace vegetation successions in the geological past. Nevertheless, the morphological similarity of pollen grains in the Chenopodiaceae rarely permits identification at the generic level. Although some pollen classifications of Chenopodiaceae have been proposed, none of them tried to link pollen types to specific desert vegetation types in order to explore their ecological significance. Based on the pollen morphological characters of 13 genera and 24 species within the Chenopodiaceae of eastern central Asia, we provide a new pollen classification of this family with six pollen types and link them to those plant communities dominated by Chenopodiaceae, for example, temperate dwarf semi‐arboreal desert (Haloxylon type), temperate succulent halophytic dwarf semi‐shrubby desert (Suaeda, Kalidium, and Atriplex types), temperate annual graminoid desert (Kalidium type), temperate semi‐shrubby and dwarf semi‐shrubby desert (Kalidium, Iljini, and Haloxylon types), and alpine cushion dwarf semi‐shrubby desert (Krascheninnikovia type). These findings represent a new approach for detecting specific desert vegetation types and deciphering ecosystem evolution in eastern central Asia.

Pollen morphology of the subfamily Salicornioideae (Chenopodiaceae) in Eurasia and North Africa

“…The diversity centre of Kalidium is Central Asia, where four additional species are growing. Lu et al (2019) described a Kalidium-pollen type among studied species of Chenopodiaceae from the eastern arid Central Asia which is characterized by the presence of isolated spines on pore membrane and pore diameter of 1-3.5 µm. All Salicornioideae species in this study fall into the same category of pore diameter.…”

“…Distinction between halophytic and non-halophytic desertic species is thus of high importance in Quaternary palynological investigations (Djamali et al, 2008a). The family Chenopodiaceae is stenopolinous (Wodehouse 1935;Erdtman 1969;Lu et al 2019), the pollen grains are monad and exclusively polypantoporate with tiny spinules on both tectum and operculum (Nowicke 1975;Skvarla and Nowicke 1976). There are a few comprehensive pollen morphological studies in Chenopodiaceae treating the whole family (Monoszon 1951(Monoszon , 1952Dambach 1993), Suaedoideae (Dehghani and Akhani 2009) and Salsoloideae subfamilies (Toderich et al 2010) and Atripliceae tribe (Olvera et al 2006), resulting in important taxonomic, ecological and biological applications.…”

Variance of vegetation coverage and its sensitivity to climatic factors in the Irtysh River basin

“…Different types of vegetation respond differently. The main vegetation type is desert meadow, which is a short-lived plant that survives in arid areas by escaping drought ( Guo, Liang & Liu, 2004 ; Lu et al, 2019 ). The ephemeral plants germinate and grow quickly in spring when the elevated temperature melts the frozen soil or the covering snow and complete their life cycle before the coming of the hot and dry summer.…”

Untitled

“…Нами узагальнені морфологічні ознаки пилкових зерен C. arenarius, які можна використовувати для їхньої ідентифікації при проведенні споровопилкового аналізу: розміри зерна та пор, кількість пор, відстань між їхніми краями, текстура і товщина екзини та чіткість стовпчиків. За цими ознаками пилкові зерна C. arenarius досить добре відрізняються від пилку інших представників родини Chenopodiaceae (Mosyakin, Tsymbalyuk, 2002, 2004Tsymbalyuk et al, 2005;Mosyakin et al, 2017;Lu et al, 2018). За діаметром пор, чіткістю облямівки, текстурою та товщиною екзини пилкові зерна C. arenarius подібні до пилку Krascheninnikovia ceratoides (L.) Gueldenst., але водночас і відрізняються за деякими іншими ознаками.…”