Paleontologists believe that all plants produce pollen that is difficult to destroy, and using pollen fossils preserved in sediments to analyze the types of plants at that time, it is possible to construct a time series of ancient climates. Due to the responsiveness of pollen to climate change, pollen recording is currently one of the most important indicators of environmental reconstruction and is widely used in paleoenvironment reconstruction.
In this issue, Xiaobian especially recommends the "Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas" for everyone, so that these mysterious plant fingerprints can take you into that distant era...
Pollenology is an important branch of Quaternary research, which mainly studies the spore and pollen morphology and classification of plants, and performs pollen analysis. Pollen analysis is a key tool for studying past vegetation changes, climate change and the impact of human activities on vegetation, and it plays a key role in paleoecology and global change research. Today's increasingly pronounced trend towards global warming is directly linked to the warming effect caused by human activities. Therefore, simulating and predicting changes in climate and ecological environment is of great practical significance for the coordinated development of nature and human society. Pollen analysis has provided an irreplaceable role for other disciplines in the past global change (mainly Quaternary studies) to understand climate and environmental change, explore its dynamic mechanisms, and predict future evolution trends.
The basis of Quaternary pollen research is plant pollen morphology research and identification, and in the past few decades, the modern plant spore and pollen atlas provided by scholars of the older generation such as Wang Fuxiong, Zhang Jintan, Huang Zengquan, Xi Yizhen and Zhang Yulong provides an important reference for the study of Quaternary pollen in China. However, due to the influence of various factors in the burial process, the morphology of some pollens may change, resulting in difficulties in identification and even deviations, especially the identification standards have a certain degree of subjectivity, which directly affects the accuracy of identification, and then affects the quality of ancient vegetation reconstruction. Especially for beginners, it is easy to produce identification errors according to Tu Suoji. The author has been engaged in the study of Quaternary pollen for decades and deeply realizes the great need to provide beginners and related researchers with pollen plates in sediments as an identification reference. To this end, we have been collecting and collating researched or published materials and photographs since 2005, and it took several years to compile this atlas.
Fig. 1 Microscopic photograph of major Quaternary pollen in the Northwest Territories
1. Snow Ridge Spruce Picea schrenkiana;2. Ephedra;3, 4. Tamarix of tamarix;5, 6. QuinoaChenopodiaceae;7. 1. Plumbaginaceae;8. Bupleurum; Camel pon Peganum harmala;10, 11. Artemisia artemisia;12. 13, 14. Sorrel genus Rumex;13, 14. 15. Tangut White Thorn Nitraria tangutorum;15. Pterophora Polemonium;16. Echinops sphaerocephalus;17. Elaeagnus;18. Caryophyllaceae
Fig. 2 Photomicrograph of major Quaternary pollen in the northern region
1. Alnus of the alder genus;2, 3. 2. Birch genus Betula;4. 5. Corylus; Carpinus of the genus Lycaena;6, 7. 8, 9. Sanguisorba of the genus Elm;10. Rhamnus; 11. 12, 13. Linden tree genus Tilia;12, 13. Quercus;14. Fraxinus of the genus Ash tree;15. Ulmus; 16. 17. Maple genus Acer;17. Selaginella sinensis;18. Larch genus Larix;19. Spruce belongs to the genus Picea
Figure 3 Photos of the main pollen types in the southeast region
1, 2. Chestnut Castanea (Chestnut); 3. Lithocarpus of the genus Lithocarpus(Quercus albata); 4. Castanopsis;5, 6. Cyclobalanopsis of the genus Aoka;7, 8. Quercus Quercus(Quercus quercus), 9, 10. Fagus; 11. 12. Rhus of the genus Rhus;12. Taxodiaceae; 13. Pterocarya; 14. Maple incense genus Liquidbar (maple incense); 15. Symplocos of the genus Alum;16. Pistacia of the genus Pistacia;17. Celtis;18. Arbutus myrica; 19. Holly genus Ilex;20. CattailSy tempha;21. Cyperaceae; 22. Poaceae Graminae (Rice)
Figure 4.1 Quaternary major pollen type I in South China
1. Halogen fern Acrostichum aureum;2. Breynia; 3, 6. Myrtaceae;4. Bmax of the genus Kapok;5. Dacrydium of the genus Lu Junsong;7, 10. Dipterocarpus; 8. Ficus;9. Twig peony Melastomadendrisetosum
Figure 4.2 Quaternary major pollen type II in South China
1. Tooth leaf benzoin Styrax serrulatus;2, 3. Mangrove Rhizophora apiculata;4, 5. Avcennia marina;6. Helen Bruguiera sexangula;7. Kandelia obovata;8. Barringtonia racemosa;9. 10. Rhomnitzera littorea; Mushrooms belong to the genus Altingia
Figure 4.3 Quaternary major pollen types in South China III
1. Pterospermum; Acacia Albizia julibrissin; 3. 1. Water Coconut Nypa fructicans; 4. Phoenix wood Delonix regia;5, 6. Hessan Sonneratia caseolaris;7, 8. 9. Cup calyx sonneratia alba;9. Hibiscus tiliaceus
Figure 5 Pollen photos common in the southwest region
1. Onychium; Alsophila; Rhododendron of the genus Rhododendron;4. 5. Genus Koenigia; Hippophae of the genus Sea buckthorn;6, 7. 8. Evergreen Oak Quercus;8. Neem Melia;9. Hemlock genus Tsuga;10. Cedrus;11. Podocarpus of the genus Rosa;12. Fir genus Abbies
Most of the Quaternary spore pollen data and photos collected in the "Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas" are the materials accumulated by the author in the study of Quaternary pollen over the years, and a small number of fossil pollen or modern pollen photos are provided by peers, such as Lu Xinmiao and Ma Qingfeng provided some Holocene pollen photos of Tibetan lakes; Pan Anding, Zhang Wenchao, and Chen Xuemei provided some modern pollen photos in arid and semi-arid areas. After 10 years of work, the author has concentrated on sorting out and arranging the spore powder type micrographic plates commonly found in Quaternary strata in China. Considering that China has a vast territory, complex vegetation types, and a wide variety of plant species, and similar morphologies may belong to different plant species in different regions, the Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas arranges spore pollen micrographic plates according to five regions: northwest, north, southeast, south China and southwest, and makes a brief overview of modern vegetation and Quaternary vegetation history in these areas, and also focuses on the identification morphological characteristics of the main Quaternary pollen types and characteristics of common pollen species in each region.
In the broad sense of pollen science, the object of study should include the morphological study of all spore plants, that is, algae, bryophytes and ferns. In the study of a large number of Quaternary limphological sediment pollens for more than ten years, the number of freshwater algae individuals and the percentage content or concentration of pollen have been included in the pollen research objects at the same time, and the paleogester and paleoenvironment have been discussed respectively, such as the number of individuals and pollen concentrations of Panxing algae appearing in the pollen schema at the same time, and the lake sedimentary environment is comprehensively discussed. Therefore, the spore morphology and spore microscopic photos of freshwater algae plants that have been found were compiled into the "Chinese Quaternary Spore Pollen Atlas".
The "Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas" is divided into three chapters, the first chapter is an overview of modern vegetation and Quaternary vegetation in various regions of China, focusing on the evolution history of paleogetli and paleoclimate since the Pleistocene in various regions; the second chapter introduces the main Quaternary pollen types and their characteristics listed in this atlas, and compares and identifies the identification points of common pollen species in different regions, and describes the morphology of the genus Spore powder with regional characteristics in more detail The third chapter is the description of spore pollen microscopic photography and plate description in various regions of China.
According to the plant classification system, the microscopic photos of plant pollens in each region are arranged in order of algae, bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms, and 409 color plates are compiled. Among them, 63 plates in the northwest region include 7 families of fern spores, 3 families of gymnosperms pollen and 54 families of angiosperm pollen; 63 plates of the northern region, including 5 families of algae spores, 1 family of bryophyte spores, 9 families of ferns, 4 families of gymnosperms pollen and 61 families of angiosperm; 108 plates of southeast regions, including 6 families of algal plant spores, 23 families of bryophyte spores, 23 families of ferns, 6 families of gymnosperms pollen and 117 families of angiosperms pollen There are 44 atlases in South China, including 18 families of fern spores, 3 families of gymnosperms pollen and 69 families of angiosperms pollen; 131 plates in southwest China, including 10 families of algae spores, 6 families of bryophyte spores, 23 families of fern spores, 4 families of gymnosperms pollen and 85 families of angiosperm pollen.
The genus Spore powder family listed in the Quaternary Pollen Atlas of China is named according to the morphology of modern plant pollen and according to the natural nomenclature of modern plants. Since a large number of modern plant pollen morphological publications describe the morphological characteristics (including terms) of the listed pollens, and the readers of the "Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas" are familiar with the morphological characteristics of pollen and its terminology, the spore pollen morphology of the listed families is not described one by one, and only the pollen types common in various regions and regional characteristics are identified and described. For example, the identification characteristics and morphological description of similar genera of arid and semi-arid plant pollen types in northwest China (such as Tribulus, Asteraceae, Huzi family, Umbellifera, etc.) were focused on the identification characteristics and morphological description of similar genera in the northwest region; the morphological search and description of the genera of birch family in the northern region were focused on the morphological characteristics of the three genera of Pine, Fir and Spruce; the morphological search and characteristic description of the genera of the Shell Hops family in the southeast region were focused on the comparison of fossil pollen of several indistinguishable families in the tropics and subtropics (such as holly, (Phylloscopidae and Rhinocerosaceae; Sumacaceae, Family Pentagram and Family Rubiaceae); focus on the more detailed morphological description of mangrove tree species in South China; focus on the comparative identification of various genera of Pine family in Southwest China.
The pollen observation microscope used in the Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas is a research-grade microscope produced by Carl Zeiss and Olympus, all equipped with semi-apochromatic objectives with high optical resolution (40x, 60x and 100x commonly used). Pollen image acquisition is done by ordinary digital cameras and microscopes with high-pixel CCDs, most of which are photographed under 40x or 60x objectives using digital cameras, while some pollen types are photographed under 100x oil microscopes to obtain a clear finish on the outer surface of the pollen wall. The scale of CCD image acquisition is easy to obtain directly online, while the ordinary digital camera manually takes out the micrometer under the corresponding objective lens, and ensures that the pixels of the digital camera remain unchanged, and the scale bar is added to the corresponding picture in batches through post-editing.
The accurate identification of spore powder depends on the amount of morphological information that can be observed, under normal circumstances, appraisers hope to observe different aspects of spore powder (such as polar surface, equatorial surface), different angles, different focusing levels (such as upper focal surface, photocut surface, lower focal surface), therefore, the tool book of spore powder form will try to show as many spore pollen photos as possible from different angles, and we also provide several pictures for the same type of pollen in the "Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas", which is convenient for readers to compare and identify. The size information of the pollen is also one of the references for identification, and the relative size of different pollens can be reflected on a plate, so each plate in this book basically uses a single scale scale, which can more clearly understand the relative size of different pollen types. Some larger pollens, sometimes for the sake of aesthetics in typography, directly mark different scales on the corresponding pictures.
In order to facilitate the reader's quick search, the Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas deliberately places the text description of the pollen under the plate, listing the family or species name (including Chinese and Latin literary names) represented by the corresponding photo number and the origin of important genera species to increase readability. Pollen microscopic photographs of each region are arranged in order of algae spores, bryophyte spores, fern spores, gymnosperm pollen and angiosperm pollen, in each type of pollen, arranged alphabetically by the Latin name of the family name, and basically arranged in alphabetical order of the Latin name of the genus within the same family, and the order of the genus names is slightly adjusted taking into account the aesthetics or layout of the graphic layout, but does not affect the rapid search for different pollen types within the same family. All photos with a species name written are modern pollen, and cf is written before the species name. Some fossil pollen cannot be identified as genus due to various reasons such as fossil preservation and unclear photos, so it is designated as "×× family undetermined genus". Most of the micrographs compiled in the Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas are optical microscopic photographs, and a few are electron scanning and laser confocal microscopy photographs, and SEM or LCS photographs are indicated after the serial number of the plate description. In addition, due to the large number of quercus pollen species in the family Quercus, it is not yet possible to identify species, but it is possible to distinguish between the two types of evergreen and deciduous, and the Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas describes evergreen quercus as Quercus (E) and deciduous oak as Quercus(D). It should also be noted that the Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas does not uniformly correct the chronological units in the description of the vegetation history of each region, directly quoting the 14C dating unit "chronology/ka BP" or the corrected chronology "chronology/cal" labeled by the original author. kaBP”。
This article is excerpted from the preface of Tang Lingyu, Mao Limi, Shu Junwu, Li Chunhai, Shen Caiming, and Zhou Zhongze, who edited the "Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas" (responsible editor: Meng Meicen Hu Xiaochun), with abridged content and a title added by the editor.
Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas
Tang Lingyu et al. eds
Beijing: Science Press, 2016.12
978-7-03-050568-2
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The "Chinese Quaternary Pollen Atlas" systematically summarizes the identification characteristics of Quaternary fossil pollen types and representative pollen types in various regions in China. The book is divided into three chapters: the first chapter summarizes the history of modern vegetation and Quaternary vegetation in various regions of China, mainly so that readers can easily understand the history of vegetation evolution in different regions of China, and understand the important position of the main pollen family in quaternary pollen research; the second chapter summarizes the characteristics of the main quaternary pollen types in various regions of China, and identifies and compares the morphological characteristics of common pollen types that are easily confused, and summarizes the key points of practical identification; the third chapter compiles the pollen map plates and their descriptions in various regions of China. According to the plant system classification system and the alphabetical order of the family, a total of 409 plates were made, including more than 300 families, nearly 1000 genera of plant spores and pollen.
(Editor of this issue: An Jing)
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