Modern pollen spectra from lakes in arctic western Canada

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Botany
• Main Authors: Ritchie, J. C., Hadden, K. A., Gajewski, K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1987
• Subjects: Plant Science; Arctic; Northwest Territories; Canada; Banks Island; Saxifraga oppositifolia; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b87-220; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b87-220

Fifty-four samples of modern sediment from Banks Island and the Melville–Horton region of the Northwest Territories illustrate the major features of pollen deposition from the high to low arctic. Modern pollen deposition in the high arctic of Banks Island is characterized by up to 14% windblown tree pollen. Indicator taxa of the high and mid arctic include Oxyria (<5–23%), Saxifragaceae, Saxifraga oppositifolia, and Cruciferae (all up to 8%) and Dryas (up to 3%). Arboreal pollen increases to 60% in low-arctic and subarctic samples. Pollen concentration decreases from between 3 500 and 20 000 in the low arctic to less than 5 000 grains/cm 3 in the high and mid arctic. Pollen spectra from the Late Glacial of northwestern Canada differ from those of the modern high and mid arctic not only by the absence of trees and shrubs but also in the relative proportions of Artemisia and of such indicator taxa as Oxyria and Saxifragaceae.