Relationship of modern terrestrial pollen to climate and vegetation in north-western America
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: As the Arctic is one of the regions, most sensitive to anthropogenic climate change, it is highly important to understand the relationship between climatic changes and modern vegetation dynamics in this area. Modern pollen assemblages and their relationship to contemporary vegetation and climate are critically important for reliable pollen-based reconstructions of past environmental changes. However, reference datasets for this area are still limited. Here, we present a new dataset consisting of pollen samples from 30 sites across north-west Canada and Alaska. A total of 18 pollen taxa and 6 spore taxa were found. The distribution of the taxa reflects typical patterns in pollen spectra, where woody species are over-represented compared to herbaceous species. Cluster analysis of the pollen dataset shows that a 3-cluster model is meaningful. Environmental variables were considered in the analysis. Boxplots, redundancy analysis (RDA), and permutation tests reveal that temperature variables have the greatest influence on the pollen distribution. Procrustes rotation analysis and associated Protest significance tests were conducted. Additionally, a simulation approach was designed to investigate possible discrepancies caused by the relative pollen production of different pollen taxa. Simulation suggests that adjusted pollen values match reported relative pollen productivity (RPP) in 11 of 14 cases. Anemophilous woody species with RPPs above 1 (except Pinus ) are reduced, while entomophilous taxa with RPPs below 1 are increased. Applying these adjustments causes major improvements in the Procrustes results.
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Life on land, Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,260
Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
OpenAlex ID: W7169569166