The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa.

Transitions between forest and savannah vegetation types in fossil pollen records are often poorly understood due to over-production by taxa such as Poaceae and a lack of modern pollen–vegetation studies. Here, modern pollen assemblages from within a forest–savannah transition in West Africa are pre...

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Main Authors: Julier, Adele C.M., Jardine, Phillip E., Adu-Bredu, Stephen, Coe, Angela L., Duah-Gyamfi, Akwasi, Fraser, Wesley T., Lomax, Barry H., Malhi, Yadvinder, Moore, Sam, Owusu-Afriyie, Kennedy, Gosling, William D.
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2017
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44631/
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author Julier, Adele C.M.
Jardine, Phillip E.
Adu-Bredu, Stephen
Coe, Angela L.
Duah-Gyamfi, Akwasi
Fraser, Wesley T.
Lomax, Barry H.
Malhi, Yadvinder
Moore, Sam
Owusu-Afriyie, Kennedy
Gosling, William D.
author_facet Julier, Adele C.M.
Jardine, Phillip E.
Adu-Bredu, Stephen
Coe, Angela L.
Duah-Gyamfi, Akwasi
Fraser, Wesley T.
Lomax, Barry H.
Malhi, Yadvinder
Moore, Sam
Owusu-Afriyie, Kennedy
Gosling, William D.
author_sort Julier, Adele C.M.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Transitions between forest and savannah vegetation types in fossil pollen records are often poorly understood due to over-production by taxa such as Poaceae and a lack of modern pollen–vegetation studies. Here, modern pollen assemblages from within a forest–savannah transition in West Africa are presented and compared, their characteristic taxa discussed, and implications for the fossil record considered. Fifteen artificial pollen traps were deployed for 1 year, to collect pollen rain from three vegetation plots within the forest–savannah transition in Ghana. High percentages of Poaceae and Melastomataceae/Combretaceae were recorded in all three plots. Erythrophleum suaveolens characterised the forest plot, Manilkara obovata the transition plot and Terminalia the savannah plot. The results indicate that Poaceae pollen influx rates provide the best representation of the forest–savannah gradient, and that a Poaceae abundance of > 40 % should be considered as indicative of savannah-type vegetation in the fossil record.
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spelling nottingham-446312020-05-04T18:59:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44631/ The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa. Julier, Adele C.M. Jardine, Phillip E. Adu-Bredu, Stephen Coe, Angela L. Duah-Gyamfi, Akwasi Fraser, Wesley T. Lomax, Barry H. Malhi, Yadvinder Moore, Sam Owusu-Afriyie, Kennedy Gosling, William D. Transitions between forest and savannah vegetation types in fossil pollen records are often poorly understood due to over-production by taxa such as Poaceae and a lack of modern pollen–vegetation studies. Here, modern pollen assemblages from within a forest–savannah transition in West Africa are presented and compared, their characteristic taxa discussed, and implications for the fossil record considered. Fifteen artificial pollen traps were deployed for 1 year, to collect pollen rain from three vegetation plots within the forest–savannah transition in Ghana. High percentages of Poaceae and Melastomataceae/Combretaceae were recorded in all three plots. Erythrophleum suaveolens characterised the forest plot, Manilkara obovata the transition plot and Terminalia the savannah plot. The results indicate that Poaceae pollen influx rates provide the best representation of the forest–savannah gradient, and that a Poaceae abundance of > 40 % should be considered as indicative of savannah-type vegetation in the fossil record. Taylor & Francis 2017-08-10 Article PeerReviewed Julier, Adele C.M., Jardine, Phillip E., Adu-Bredu, Stephen, Coe, Angela L., Duah-Gyamfi, Akwasi, Fraser, Wesley T., Lomax, Barry H., Malhi, Yadvinder, Moore, Sam, Owusu-Afriyie, Kennedy and Gosling, William D. (2017) The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa. Palynology . ISSN 1558-9188 Pollen; Transitions; Poaceae; Savannah; Ghana; Palaeoecology; Bosumtwi https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01916122.2017.1356392 doi:10.1080/01916122.2017.1356392 doi:10.1080/01916122.2017.1356392
spellingShingle Pollen; Transitions; Poaceae; Savannah; Ghana; Palaeoecology; Bosumtwi
Julier, Adele C.M.
Jardine, Phillip E.
Adu-Bredu, Stephen
Coe, Angela L.
Duah-Gyamfi, Akwasi
Fraser, Wesley T.
Lomax, Barry H.
Malhi, Yadvinder
Moore, Sam
Owusu-Afriyie, Kennedy
Gosling, William D.
The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa.
title The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa.
title_full The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa.
title_fullStr The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa.
title_full_unstemmed The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa.
title_short The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa.
title_sort modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, ghana, west africa.
topic Pollen; Transitions; Poaceae; Savannah; Ghana; Palaeoecology; Bosumtwi
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44631/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44631/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44631/