Pollen analysis of modern tree bark samples from the Manendragarh Forest Range of the Koriya district, Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract

Pollen from modern tree bark samples collected in the Manendragarh Forest Range, Koriya District, Chhattisgarh, India, was investigated with the objective to understand the pollen rain in and around the study area, using modern tree bark samples as a new tool. The palyno-assemblages revealed the dominance of non-arboreals (herbs) over arboreals (trees and shrubs). Trees constitute an average of 17.23% pollen in the total pollen rain, whereas the average contribution of shrubs is only 0.33%. The non-arboreals have an average of 82.44% pollen in the total pollen rain. This bias in the form of representation of trees and shrubs, despite their ample presence in the forest, could be due to the differences in pollen production, dispersal and preservation of taxa, which depends on plant species and climatic conditions.

Keywords:

• modern tree barks
• pollen rain
• tropical deciduous forest
• Koriya
• Chhattisgarh
• India

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Sunil Bajpai, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, India, for providing the facilities to carry out this research work and also for the permission to publish the same. The authors also thank the reviewers for their invaluable comments. MFQ extends his sincere thanks to Thomas Denk and Christian Pott, editor and technical editor of Grana, respectively, for kindly improving the quality of the manuscript and illustrations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.