Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records
It is commonly asserted in paleoecological studies that shrub birch tends to have smaller pollen than tree birch, but this is poorly documented for Alaskan taxa. We measured freshly dehisced pollen from 55 plants in four northern Alaskan taxa, Betula resinifera (tree birch), Betula glandulosa (shrub...
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1991
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/b91-211 2023-12-17T10:28:11+01:00 Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records Edwards, Mary E. Dawe, Janice C. Armbruster, W. Scott 1991 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b91-211 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b91-211 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Botany volume 69, issue 8, page 1666-1672 ISSN 0008-4026 Plant Science journal-article 1991 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/b91-211 2023-11-19T13:39:28Z It is commonly asserted in paleoecological studies that shrub birch tends to have smaller pollen than tree birch, but this is poorly documented for Alaskan taxa. We measured freshly dehisced pollen from 55 plants in four northern Alaskan taxa, Betula resinifera (tree birch), Betula glandulosa (shrub birch), Betula nana ssp. exilis (dwarf birch), and Betula resinifera × glandulosa (hybrid). No significant differences existed between mean pollen sizes of any taxa. Betula glandulosa showed significant size variation among sites. Increase in birch-pollen size with time observed in some late Quaternary fossil records from northern Alaska cannot be safely attributed to a change from shrub to tree-dominated vegetation. Alternative explanations for temporal trends in pollen size are (i) evolution of populations, (ii) an environmental effect on pollen size, and (iii) local extinction of a previously widespread taxon. Key words: Alaska, Beringia, Betula, late Quaternary, pollen size. Article in Journal/Newspaper Betula nana Dwarf birch Alaska Beringia Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Canadian Journal of Botany 69 8 1666 1672 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Plant Science |
spellingShingle |
Plant Science Edwards, Mary E. Dawe, Janice C. Armbruster, W. Scott Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records |
topic_facet |
Plant Science |
description |
It is commonly asserted in paleoecological studies that shrub birch tends to have smaller pollen than tree birch, but this is poorly documented for Alaskan taxa. We measured freshly dehisced pollen from 55 plants in four northern Alaskan taxa, Betula resinifera (tree birch), Betula glandulosa (shrub birch), Betula nana ssp. exilis (dwarf birch), and Betula resinifera × glandulosa (hybrid). No significant differences existed between mean pollen sizes of any taxa. Betula glandulosa showed significant size variation among sites. Increase in birch-pollen size with time observed in some late Quaternary fossil records from northern Alaska cannot be safely attributed to a change from shrub to tree-dominated vegetation. Alternative explanations for temporal trends in pollen size are (i) evolution of populations, (ii) an environmental effect on pollen size, and (iii) local extinction of a previously widespread taxon. Key words: Alaska, Beringia, Betula, late Quaternary, pollen size. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Edwards, Mary E. Dawe, Janice C. Armbruster, W. Scott |
author_facet |
Edwards, Mary E. Dawe, Janice C. Armbruster, W. Scott |
author_sort |
Edwards, Mary E. |
title |
Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records |
title_short |
Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records |
title_full |
Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records |
title_fullStr |
Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pollen size of Betula in northern Alaska and the interpretation of late Quaternary vegetation records |
title_sort |
pollen size of betula in northern alaska and the interpretation of late quaternary vegetation records |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1991 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b91-211 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b91-211 |
genre |
Betula nana Dwarf birch Alaska Beringia |
genre_facet |
Betula nana Dwarf birch Alaska Beringia |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Botany volume 69, issue 8, page 1666-1672 ISSN 0008-4026 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/b91-211 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Botany |
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69 |
container_issue |
8 |
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1666 |
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1672 |
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1785580217916456960 |