Schüler, L. & Behling, H. (2010): <b>Poaceae pollen grain size as a tool to distinguish past grasslands in South America - a new methodological approach</b>. <i>Vegetation History and Archaeobotany</i> <b>20</b>, 83-96.
Resource Description
Title:
Poaceae pollen grain size as a tool to distinguish past grasslands in South America - a new methodological approach
FOR816dw ID:
1170
Publication Date:
2010-09-30
License and Usage Rights:
Resource Owner(s):
Individual:
Lisa Schüler
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> tropicalmountainforest.org
Individual:
Hermann Behling
Contact:
email:
Hermann.Behling <at> bio.uni-goettingen.de
Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics
Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences
University of Göttingen
Untere Karspüle 2
37073 Göttingen
Germany
Abstract:
Despite the dominance of grasslands during the<br/>
last glacial period, especially in South America, the highly<br/>
uniform morphology of Poaceae pollen grains has so far<br/>
allowed only very few palynological studies based on<br/>
Poaceae pollen. In our study we compare two methods of<br/>
distinguishing between South American grassland ecosystems<br/>
based on quantitative morphology of Poaceae pollen<br/>
grains. We investigated data sets from Pa´ramo in southern<br/>
Ecuador, Campos de Altitude and Campos in south-eastern<br/>
and southern Brazil as well as data sets from the Pampa in<br/>
Argentina by measuring the pollen grain length, grain<br/>
width, pore diameter and annulus width. Firstly we investigated<br/>
the potential influence of chemical treatment of<br/>
pollen grains on pollen grain size as well as the measurement<br/>
setting for defining the boundary conditions for using<br/>
Poaceae pollen grains in a palaeoecological investigation.<br/>
Finally the measured pollen grain parameters were analyzed<br/>
by comparison of average grain length using<br/>
statistical tests. This approach reveals highly significant<br/>
differences in average grain size between all grassland<br/>
ecosystems. Assuming that a certain grain size range can<br/>
be assigned to a certain Poaceae taxon, conclusions about<br/>
differences and similarities in taxa composition can be<br/>
derived. We used two methods of multivariate data analysis.<br/>
One uses the pollen grain parameters directly for a<br/>
Principle Component Analysis (PCA). The other is an<br/>
already established method in grassland ecology which<br/>
defines parameter based pollen grain types to investigate<br/>
similarities between grassland ecosystems. Both approaches<br/>
confirm the results of the grain length analysis. In this<br/>
work we demonstrate that the method we developed has the<br/>
potential to provide acquisition of so far inaccessible<br/>
information on spatial and temporal patterns and dynamics<br/>
of South American grasslands.
Keywords:
| palynology | grassland | South America | Poaceae | Pampa | Paramo |
Literature type specific fields:
ARTICLE
Journal:
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Volume:
20
Page Range:
83-96
Publisher:
Springer
ISSN:
0939-6314
Metadata Provider:
Individual:
Nele Jantz
Contact:
email:
nele.jantz <at> biologie.uni-goettingen.de
Untere Karspüle 2
A.v.H.-Inst. für Pflanzenwiss.
Abt. Palynologie u. Klimadynamik
37073 Göttingen
Germany
