Some aeropalynological remarks and conclusions on the South Carpathian Mountains (Rumania)

Abstract

Two methods of research are described: 1. ( 1) Spore and pollen analysis at every hundred meters of the moss patches from the beech to the alpine zones (900–2,484 m altitude). At each level the actual structure of the vegetation has been established. 2. ( 2) Daily aeropalynological trapping of pollen in the alpine and subalpine zones between March 29 and August 21, 1965. In the first case, as long as the samples were collected within the forest, the pollen spectra were found to be in conformity with the surrounding vegetation. However, in the alpine zone pollen from lower zones becomes frequent, depending on the prevailing aerial currents in the studied mountain massif. In the second case, the following phenomena were established: periodicity in pollen productivity; reflotation owing to air turbulence; the action of southwesterly and southeasterly winds, which carried some alien pollen species before the local flowering period, and the action of northwesterly winds carrying generally the same pollen after the local flowering period. The importance of the findings for the understanding of pollen spectra from peat sediments is discussed.