Applications of Pollen Data

Palynological Richness = Number of pollen taxa observed

Anthropogenic Indicators

Hunter gatherers create small burning and some record
Slash and burn agriculture is a clear impact, causing changes in natural fire regime and thus vegetation and pollen and charcoal records
Decrease in Picea and Pinus pollen and increase in Populus, Betula, Epilobium and Pteridium are indicators in the pollen record.
Increase in open and bare soil (Plantagor major pollen is often thought of as a human/agriculture footprint)
These aren't definite human impact markers, but some things are almost certain human indicators like:
- Rye pollen (Secale cereale) (easy to identify from other pollen taxa)
- Cornflower (Centaurea cyanys) (also easy to identify)
- Plus a decrease in forest taxa, then you can be sure
First pollen records in FInland from 4500 - 3000 cal yr BP
- Mostly barley (Hordeum)
- some finds of buckwheat (Fagopyrum) from 7200, 6200 cal yr BP which are debated and only from one site
Reconstruction of vegetation openness
- Studied all non-tree species except sedges (Cyperaceae) pollen and measured changes over time
- Sedges are excluded since they grow abundantly in the bogs and fens where the samples came from
Examples showing the land use history of Helsinki and the British Isles based on pollen samples
- Increase in population correlates with opnening of vegetation

While we might only find a fraction of pollen taxa preserved in the paleo data, the trends in diversity will reflect the diversity of plants seen generally
Correlation between pollen richness and plant richness in Europe were confirmed, best with wind-pollinated taxa (especially trees), while grasses and herbs are less represented

In one study from a montane area in Spain, the pollen record showed more tree species thanactual observed vegetation - this is because the tree pollen travelled further

This study can tell us which periods had the fastest change in vegetation - this lets us compare changing climate events and whicheffect of vegetation

Study from Estonia that looked at functional trait composition in woody and herbaceous taxa from a certain fen
Can see trends such as increased height, seed number increase, seed leaf area increases since holocene
This assumes that plant phenotype has not changed over this time (no evolution)

This can reveal more diverse taxa that aren't captured in the pollen record such as animals, mammals etc
Can also give more precise identification of pollen, such as identifying to species rather than to family in the case of pollen (example from northern Norway)
Study from Northern Finland showing terrestrial species richness from sedaDNA and from pollen record, where sedaDNA shows more diversity
Sedimentary DNA also shows more species such as aquatic and bryophyte species which don't produce as much pollen