Recent pollen assemblages from Protected Areas of European Russia as a key to interpreting the results of paleoecological studies

Abstract

The paper presents the results of studies of 59 recent pollen assemblages from protected areas located in the forest and steppe zones of the East European plain. The obtained data show that in pollen assemblages from forest localities a great share of the regional component of spectra is represented by plants with a high productivity of pollen. This pollen gets dispersed by wind over long distances (e.g., Betula, Alnus, Pinus). As a result the ratio of the main components in pollen assemblages from forest localities is distorted. At the same time, the participation of spruce pollen and pollen of deciduous tree species in the spectra is lower than the share of these species in the surrounding forest. Besides, the proportion of the regional pollen component in assemblages is much higher in samples taken from treeless areas and in floodplains than in probes taken under the forest canopy. These patterns should be taken into account in the reconstruction of the ancient vegetation using palynological data. The specific features of pollen assemblages that should be considered by interpreting fossil pollen spectra include: the share of broad-leaved tree pollen, proportion and floristic composition of herbaceous pollen group, occurrence of forest Lycopodium species, share of fern spores and spores of Sphagnum mosses. Different types of forest-steppe plant communities could be determined by the composition and ratio within the pollen group of herbaceous plants.

Keywords

• East European Plain
• forest zone
• forest-steppe zone
• pollen analysis
• recent pollen assemblages