@article{JulierJardineAduBreduetal.2017, author = {Julier, Adele C. M. and Jardine, Phillip E. and Adu-Bredu, Stephen and Coe, Angela L. and Duah-Gyamfi, Akwasi and Fraser, Wesley T. and Lomax, Barry H. and Malhi, Yadvinder and Moore, Sam and Owusu-Afriyie, Kennedy and Gosling, William D.}, title = {The modern pollen-vegetation relationships of a tropical forest-savannah mosaic landscape, Ghana, West Africa}, series = {Palynology}, volume = {42}, journal = {Palynology}, number = {3}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Philadelphia}, issn = {0191-6122}, doi = {10.1080/01916122.2017.1356392}, pages = {324 -- 338}, year = {2017}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{GoslingJulierAduBreduetal.2018, author = {Gosling, William D. and Julier, Adele C. M. and Adu-Bredu, Stephen and Djagbletey, Gloria D. and Fraser, Wesley T. and Jardine, Phillip E. and Lomax, Barry H. and Malhi, Yadvinder and Manu, Emmanuel A. and Mayle, Francis E. and Moore, Sam}, title = {Pollen-vegetation richness and diversity relationships in the tropics}, series = {Vegetation History and Archaeobotany}, volume = {27}, journal = {Vegetation History and Archaeobotany}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {0939-6314}, doi = {10.1007/s00334-017-0642-y}, pages = {411 -- 418}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Tracking changes in biodiversity through time requires an understanding of the relationship between modern diversity and how this diversity is preserved in the fossil record. Fossil pollen is one way in which past vegetation diversity can be reconstructed. However, there is limited understanding of modern pollen-vegetation diversity relationships from biodiverse tropical ecosystems. Here, pollen (palynological) richness and diversity (Hill N (1)) are compared with vegetation richness and diversity from forest and savannah ecosystems in the New World and Old World tropics (Neotropics and Palaeotropics). Modern pollen data were obtained from artificial pollen traps deployed in 1-ha vegetation study plots from which vegetation inventories had been completed in Bolivia and Ghana. Pollen counts were obtained from 15 to 22 traps per plot, and aggregated pollen sums for each plot were > 2,500. The palynological richness/diversity values from the Neotropics were moist evergreen forest = 86/6.8, semi-deciduous dry forest = 111/21.9, wooded savannah = 138/31.5, and from the Palaeotropics wet evergreen forest = 144/28.3, semi-deciduous moist forest = 104/4.4, forest-savannah transition = 121/14.1; the corresponding vegetation richness/diversity was 100/36.7, 80/38.7 and 71/39.4 (Neotropics), and 101/54.8, 87/45.5 and 71/34.5 (Palaeotropics). No consistent relationship was found between palynological richness/diversity, and plot vegetation richness/diversity, due to the differential influence of other factors such as landscape diversity, pollination strategy, and pollen source area. Palynological richness exceeded vegetation richness, while pollen diversity was lower than vegetation diversity. The relatively high global diversity of tropical vegetation was found to be reflected in the pollen rain.}, language = {en} }