Is palynology a credible climate proxy in the Subantarctic?

• Published in: The Holocene
• Main Authors: Van Der Putten, Nathalie, Verbruggen, Cyriel, Bjorck, Svante, De Beaulieu, Jacques-Louis, Barrow, Chris J., Frenot, Yves
• Other Authors: Lund University Lund, Geography, Ghent University, Universiteit Gent = Ghent University Belgium (UGENT), Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Swansea University, Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution Rennes (ECOBIO), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES), Ghent University (BOF 0111 2005); Progrmme 1.5.655-94 et G.0203-97 du Fonds de Recherches Flandres, British Antarctic Survey, IPEV Programme 136, CNRS Zone Atelier Antarctique et Subantarctique
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: Holocene; Îles Crozet; palynology; plant macrofossil analysis; South Georgia; Subantarctic; geo; envir; Antarctic; Indian; Southern Ocean; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612441804; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00755554

International audience Pollen and spore analysis is the most successfully used palaeobotanical discipline for reconstructing Holocene vegetation and climate history throughout the world. Subantarctic islands are very specific areas. They are located in the circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean in latitudes that are under strong influence of the southern westerly winds, and are characterised by a treeless, phanerogam-poor flora. Palynological research on many of these islands has resulted in diverging conclusions about how to infer climate history from pollen data. In this study we compare pollen data with macrofossil data on the one hand, and the palaeoenvironmental history based on a multiproxy record on the other hand, of two peat sequences from two different subantarctic islands, South Georgia and Île de la Possession (Îles Crozet). We conclude that palynology must be used with caution as a proxy for climate change on these islands, especially when no other proxy data are available. The upland-lowland principle, as it has been applied in pollen studies in the South Indian Ocean islands, results in erroneous conclusions about climate change on Île de la Possession. More palaeoclimatic multiproxy and pollen studies, in combination with pollen-vegetation relationship studies, can, however, contribute to a more reliable model of how to interpret pollen data in the Subantarctic. We want to stress that our conclusions are only based on Holocene records. Consequently, the question remains if palynology can be used as a palaeoclimatic proxy when climatic changes were more pronounced such as during the last glacial-interglacial transition.