Ecological significance of common pollen ratios:
A review

doi:10.1007/s11707-010-0112-7

Front. Earth Sci.

2010, Vol. 4

Issue (3) : 253-258 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-010-0112-7

Research articles

Ecological significance of common pollen ratios: A review

Furong LI,Jinghui SUN,Yan ZHAO,Xiaoli GUO,Wenwei ZHAO,Ke ZHANG,

Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China;

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Abstract Pollen ratios have been commonly used to indicate landscape change and climate variation. However, the reliability of these indicators needs to be verified by studies on modern pollen process. Here, we synthesized the major pollen ratios used in previous studies and found that pollen ratios are valuable indicators for the change of vegetation types and climate, e.g., precipitation and moisture. Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae (A/C) ratio could increase from desert to steppe and positively correlate with mean annual precipitation (MAP). Artemisia/Cyperaceae (A/Cy) ratio could be used to identify cool meadow and warm steppe, and it is positively correlated with temperature of July (T_July) and negatively correlated with MAP. Arboreal pollen/nonarboreal pollen (AP/NAP) ratio can be used as a semi-quantitative indicator for landscape and regional precipitation changes. In spite of the significant climatic and environmental implications of the pollen ratios, they were also questioned in some studies under various circumstances and thus caution is needed when using them to indicate climate in different vegetation zones.

Keywords pollen ratios vegetation change climate change

Issue Date: 05 September 2010

Cite this article:

Furong LI,Yan ZHAO,Wenwei ZHAO, et al. Ecological significance of common pollen ratios: A review[J]. Front. Earth Sci., 2010, 4(3): 253-258.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-010-0112-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2010/V4/I3/253

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