Modern pollen spectra from mountain localities, South Island, New Zealand

Abstract

Pollen representation at 3 South Island mountain sites is generally not in the order of source species proportion in the vegetation. At Ajax Hill, southeast Otago, the local upland vegetation, consisting of plants with low pollen output, is poorly represented and a high proportion of pollen is derived from wind pollinated plants (viz. Dacrydium cupressinum, Podocarpus spicatus, P. ferrugineus, Pinus, Nothofagus fusca type, N. menziesii, and the tree fern Cyathea smithii) growing in montane and lowland forests. Two other dominant components of the montane forest at Ajax Hill, Weinmannia racemosa and Metrosideros umbellata, are scarcely recorded. At 2 sites in the Kelly Range, Westland, local taxa, especially Phyllocladus, are the dominant pollen types. In the Moa Stream-Wilberforce River region, Canterbury, the pollen spectra give a good assessment of the regional vegetation and the local vegetation depending on the nature of the sampling site, but fluctuations in the recorded percentages of N. fusca type pollen and Dacrydium biforme belie their actual distribution in the vegetation. Libocedrus and Podocarpus nivalis are consistently underrepresented. P. hallii is well represented locally but its pollen is scarcely recorded more than 50 m from the parent trees. There is a low frequency of long distance transported pollen, mostly podocarps derived from Westland forests.

Keywords:

• palynology
• pollen analysis
• modern pollen spectra
• pollen representation
• vegetation
• dispersion
• communities
• Ajax Hill
• Kelly Range
• Moa Stream-Wilberforce River
• New Zealand flora