Modern Pollen Spectra from Labrador and their use in Reconstructing Holocene Vegetational History

Abstract

(1) The use of modern pollen spectra for comparative interpretation of fossil pollen sequences requires the ability to distinguish different vegetation types by their pollen spectra, which must in turn show similarities to the fossil assemblages. (2) Pollen assemblages from the surface sediments of seventy-one lakes in Labrador are described in terms of absolute concentrations and relative frequencies, and their correspondence with the regional vegetation is analysed by multivariate methods. (3) Tundra, forest-tundra, and forest zones can be distinguished by their modern pollen spectra; samples from the lichen woodland are intermediate between forest tundra and forest in their pollen composition. (4) Fossil pollen spectra from Labrador older than about 5000 years are unlike any modern spectra, so that the use of modern pollen analogues to infer quantitative estimates of climatic conditions in the area prior to this time is of limited value.