Pollen and spores transport into the Antarctic

Pollen record of disturbed topsoil as an indirect measurement of the potential risk of the introduction of non-native plants in maritime Antarctica

“…The taxonomic determination of pollen and spores in this study agrees with previous studies for this and other locations in Antarctica [13,22], but it also reveals that botanical families widely recognized for their role as aggressive species in the competition for colonization of the available niches [23,24] are precisely those that appear in greater abundance and coincide in their distribution with the sampling sites with sustained anthropic activity. Brassicaceae and Asteraceae are the dominant botanical families in this study in terms of the number of pollen grains recorded.…”

“…Although there are few studies on pollen rain currently in maritime Antarctica, some have referred to the depositing of pollen as a good indicator of the direction and frequency of potential immigration of nonAntarctic plants or their remains to this ecosystem, mainly through a long-distance transport from subAntarctic territories [13,14,15]. The results of the taxonomic determination of these studies have shown that, generally, the pollen grains and spores found correspond mainly to species that represent the cryptogamic and vascular flora native to the Antarctic ecosystem as well as to that of sub-Antarctic species, mainly of herbaceous habit, such as Poaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae and Apiaceae, considered aggressive species in the colonization of potentially available niches [16,8,13].…”

“…The results of the taxonomic determination of these studies have shown that, generally, the pollen grains and spores found correspond mainly to species that represent the cryptogamic and vascular flora native to the Antarctic ecosystem as well as to that of sub-Antarctic species, mainly of herbaceous habit, such as Poaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae and Apiaceae, considered aggressive species in the colonization of potentially available niches [16,8,13].…”

Eocene and Oligocene Sporomorphs and Dinoflagellate Cysts from Leg 113 Drill Sites|Weddell Sea|Antarctica

“…Some of the pollen recovered at the South Orkney Plateau (Site 696) may have been derived from long-distance wind dispersal, which is apparent in studies on recent Antarctic moss turfs (Scott and van Zinderen-Bakker, 1985;Kappen and Straka, 1988). Transport by marine currents from more temperate climatic zones and recycling from older strata can also not be completely excluded.…”

European Impacts on Coastal Eastern Tasmania: Insight from a High-Resolution Palynological Analysis of a Salt-Marsh Core

“…There is a minor rainforest component, generally consisting of long traveled (aeolian) pollen grains, such as Nothofagus cunninghamii, Dacrydium franklinii, Podocarpus lawrencei, and Phyllocladus aspleniifolius (Salas, 1983;Kappen and Straka, 1988;D'Costa and Kershaw, 1997). Pommaderris apetala is also present, but that can also be found as an understorey element of wet sclerophyll forest and like most of the rest of the pollen (D'Costa and Kershaw, 1997) and was most likely fluvially transported by the Little Swanport River.…”