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Spatial Patterns of Atmospheric Pollen Transport in a Montane Region1,2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Allen M. Solomon
Affiliation:
Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 USA
Alison B. Silkworth
Affiliation:
Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 USA

Abstract

Annual pollen deposition (pollen cm−2 yr−1) was sampled for 6 yr in the southern Sierra Nevada, the Owens Valley, and the Inyo Mountains of central California. Spatial pollen distributions were examined for anemophilous plants which are limited to growth sites (1) at high elevations on one or both mountain ranges, (2) on lower mountain slopes, and (3) on the Owens Valley floor, Pollen deposition values for high- and low-elevation plants changed by a factor of 5 to 10 between adjacent sample sites which straddle boundaries of the plant communities in which the source plants grow. Pollen deposition values were high and variable within communities in which the species grew. Pollen deposition beyond source populations was low and uniform despite great differences in distance of sites from pollen sources. The step function that seems to characterize pollen distribution patterns implies that pollen from distant populations may be of little value in interpreting vegetation stability and change reflected by fossil pollen stratigraphy. The physical isolation of pollen embedded in the local mountain-valley wind system from that in the prevailing westerlies may explain part of the spatial distribution of the pollen.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

3 Present address: School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington Ind. 47405.
1

Research was supported by National Science Foundation Ecosystem Studies Program under Interagency Agreements DEB77-26722 and BSR81-15316 with the U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC05-840R21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.

2

Publication No. 2521, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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