Stomate and pollen content of lake surface sediments from across the tree line on the Taimyr Peninsula, Siberia

Abstract

Surface-sediment samples from 23 lakes on the Taimyr Peninsula were collected along a transect from tundra to forest and analyzed for their pollen and coniferous stomate content. Larix sibirica, the dominant tree in forest–tundra and forest vegetation zones, is poorly represented in the pollen spectra, never exceeding 8%. To examine the correspondence between the modern pollen rain and the vegetation zones of tundra, forest–tundra, and forest, a principal components analysis was applied to the pollen percentages. Betula and Alnus account for the greatest variance in the data set, and the set of tundra sites farthest north is distinct from the forest sites farthest south. Stomates of L. sibirica are present in all samples from sites where Larix trees are present, and some samples contained higher concentrations of stomates than pollen of Larix. Picea obovata stomates are found less consistently and less abundantly than Larix stomates.