The reconstruction of the Lateglacial environment: some problems associated with the interpretation of pollen data in Studies in the Lateglacial of North-West Europe.

Auteurs :
MOORE, P. D.
LOWE, J. J.
GRAY, J. M.
ROBINSON, J. E.

Description :
The potentialities of pollen analysis within Lateglacial deposits are limited by the precision of identification currently possible. Some of these limitations are discussed with respect to certain pollen taxa. Since modern counterparts to the Lateglacial vegetation are unlikely to exist at present, one must rely upon what is known of the limits of certain indicator taxa, assuming their requirements to have remained unchanged. The knowledge of current climatic limits of species is still largely based upon distributional rather than experimental evidence. Although qualitative pollen data (presence) regarding such species may be useful, the use of quantitative data as a climatic index is liable to result in oversimplication. There are considerable problems in applying specific biogeographic terms, such as oceanic and continental, to pollen types containing a variety of taxa with differing requirements. This is especially true of the genera Artemisia and Empetrum. Only precisely defined pollen types containing species of unequivocal geographical distributions can safely be used for climatic reconstructions.


Type de document :
Congrès

Source :
Symposium of the Quaternary Research Association held at University College, 1979, p. 151-155

Date :
1980

Identifiants :
isbn : 0-08-024001-1

Editeur :
Pays édition : Inconnu