Pollen influx values measured in different sedimentary environments and their palaeoecological implications

Abstract

Aspects which need to be considered when calculating pollen influx values in three sedimentary environments (pollen traps, peats and lake sediments) are reviewed. Examples of influx values (grains cm-2 year-1) in northern Fennoscandia for two arboreal taxa Betula and Pinus, calculated from these three different environments are presented. Such long term average pollen influx values can be used to indicate the presence/absence and density of the species within the vicinity of the sampling site. Contrary to expectations, conditions do exist in which numerically comparable values are obtained from all three environments. Using these pollen influx values to interpret forest and woodland history in tree-line situations, from both peats and lake sediments, a higher degree of precision can be obtained than through the more classical pollen percentage method alone.