Securing maximum diversity of Non Pollen Palynomorphs in palynological samples

TY - CONF

T1 - Securing maximum diversity of Non Pollen Palynomorphs in palynological samples

AU - Enevold, Renée

AU - Odgaard, Bent Vad

PY - 2015/7

Y1 - 2015/7

N2 - Palynology is no longer synonymous with analysis of pollen with the addition of a few fern spores. A wide range of Non Pollen Palynomorphs are now described and are potential palaeoenvironmental proxies in the palynological surveys. The contribution of NPP’s has proven important to the interpretation of the cultural landscape development (e.g. Cogny 2010), megafauna extinction (e.g. Fereanec et al. 2011), population fluctuations (e.g. Wood and Wilhelmshurst 2012), climate change (e.g. Dietre et al. 2014), water level fluctuations (e.g. Mudie et al. 2011) and palaeoecology generally (e.g. Schulz & Shumilovskikh 2013). Increasingly it has become customary for palynologists to quantify at least some of the NPP’s appearing on the pollen slides (e.g. Strother et al. 2015, Odgaard 1994). Are these samples representative of the initial NPP assemblages? The usual sample preparation method for pollen analysis is based on acetylization (Erdtman 1969) and HF-treatment which are of variable destructiveness to the NPP’s. Some NPP’s might completely vanish and the prepared sample might hold less NPP diversity than the initial NPP assemblage. Consequently, it may be advisable to consider the appropriate preparation method based on hypothesis, context and sediment type for the maximum NPP recovery. We have set up a preliminary study of three different preparation methods and their influence on the NPP diversity. The samples were chosen to represent five different sediment types from recent, medieval and prehistoric contexts.

AB - Palynology is no longer synonymous with analysis of pollen with the addition of a few fern spores. A wide range of Non Pollen Palynomorphs are now described and are potential palaeoenvironmental proxies in the palynological surveys. The contribution of NPP’s has proven important to the interpretation of the cultural landscape development (e.g. Cogny 2010), megafauna extinction (e.g. Fereanec et al. 2011), population fluctuations (e.g. Wood and Wilhelmshurst 2012), climate change (e.g. Dietre et al. 2014), water level fluctuations (e.g. Mudie et al. 2011) and palaeoecology generally (e.g. Schulz & Shumilovskikh 2013). Increasingly it has become customary for palynologists to quantify at least some of the NPP’s appearing on the pollen slides (e.g. Strother et al. 2015, Odgaard 1994). Are these samples representative of the initial NPP assemblages? The usual sample preparation method for pollen analysis is based on acetylization (Erdtman 1969) and HF-treatment which are of variable destructiveness to the NPP’s. Some NPP’s might completely vanish and the prepared sample might hold less NPP diversity than the initial NPP assemblage. Consequently, it may be advisable to consider the appropriate preparation method based on hypothesis, context and sediment type for the maximum NPP recovery. We have set up a preliminary study of three different preparation methods and their influence on the NPP diversity. The samples were chosen to represent five different sediment types from recent, medieval and prehistoric contexts.

M3 - Poster

ER -