Surface Pollen and Its Relationship with Modern Vegetation in Tropical Deciduous Forests of Southwestern Madhya Pradesh, India: A Review

• Published in: Palynology 2014-06, Vol.38 (1), p.147-161
• Main Authors: Quamar, M.F, Bera, S.K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asia; assemblages; Betul India; Cenozoic; climate; Deciduous forests; flowers; Forest soils; forests; Holocene; Hoshangabad India; India; Indian Peninsula; Madhuca longifolia; Madhya Pradesh India; Manilkara; microfossils; Mimusops; miospores; Mixed forests; modern analogs; Paleobotany; Paleoclimatology; palynomorphs; Pleistocene; Pollen; pollen flow; pollen rain; provenance; Quaternary; Sediments; Sehore India; southwestern Madhya Pradesh; Taxa; Tectona grandis; tropical deciduous forests; tropical environment; Tropical forests; Tropical regions; upper Pleistocene; Vegetation; vegetation and climate
• ISSN: 0191-6122; 1558-9188
• DOI: 10.1080/01916122.2013.875491

The present communication reviews the pattern of modern pollen-rain studies carried out in southwestern Madhya Pradesh, India. The study largely revealed that Tectona grandis (teak), despite being an enormous pollen producer (7500 average number of absolute pollen/flower) and the dominant forest constituent (80 to 95% of the total forest constituents), is recorded mostly in low frequencies, attributable to its low pollen dispersal efficiency as well as poor pollen preservation in the sediments. However, Madhuca indica (Mahua) and other dominant members of Sapotaceae (cf. Manilkara hexandra and Mimusops elangi) have always shown their typical behaviour in the pollen spectra and are represented in high frequencies, which are assigned to their local abundance around the provenance of the samples, coupled with high dispersal efficiency as well as good pollen preservation in the sediments. Meanwhile, the other usual and characteristic associates of teak (Tectona grandis) in the tropical deciduous forests, despite being the common elements of the forests, are under-represented, sporadically represented or not represented at all, which could be ascribed to their low pollen productivity owing to entomogamy. Various factors that affect the deposition pattern of the diverse constituents of the tropical deciduous forests dominated by teak (Tectona grandis) have been discussed and suggestions are also given while interpreting the pollen sequences generated from the sedimentary beds in terms of past vegetation and climate in a chronological order in the region during the Late Quaternary Period.