Modern pollen dispersal studies in India: a detailed synthesis and review

Abstract

Modern pollen dispersal studies from the phytogeographically and climatically different regions [the Peninsular and extra-Peninsular regions (the Himalaya), the Ganga-Brahmaputra Plain and the coastal regions] of India are summarised and reviewed in the present communication. We have incorporated all the works undertaken on modern pollen dispersal aspects in India. It must be noted that initial studies, though incipient in nature and content, helped in establishing the science of palynology, in the early days, across the varied regions of the vast country. Shorea robusta and Tectona grandis, despite being high pollen producers and dominant components of the deciduous forests, are under-represented in the pollen assemblages; however, Madhuca indica has comparatively good representation. Rhizophora, Aegiceras, Barringtonia, Excoecaria, Sonneratia and Avicennia are the important mangrove taxa recorded from the coastal areas, although their representation is less as compared to the extant vegetation. Mesua, Schima, Elaeocarpus, Ilex and Garcinia are represented well in the pollen spectra from the evergreen forests. Pinus pollen is highly over-represented in the Himalaya. Suggestions for overcoming limitations are also provided, which will improve the accuracy and understanding of modern pollen dispersal studies in the Indian scenario. Recommendations for future research mainly comprise adoption of the established protocols for vegetation surveys. Extended R-value (ERV) models may be applied for estimating the pollen productivity (PPEs) for further use in landscape reconstruction algorithm (LRA) approaches.

Keywords:

• Vegetation type
• climate
• pollen dispersal
• review
• India

Acknowledgements

We thank the Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India, for all the support and also for the permission to publish. We also thank Dr James B. Riding, Managing Editor of Palynology, for his encouragement. Thanks are also due to Ms Kajal Singh (JRF, BSIP) for her help in drawing Figure 1. We would also like to thankfully acknowledge all the researchers for their contributions to modern pollen dispersal studies in India; if we failed to mention any work(s), this was inadvertent. We are also thankful to Dr D.M. Jarzen, Palaeobotany and Palynology Department, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, USA, Dr Katherine Holt, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, New Zealand, and another, anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments, which helped us to improve the quality of an earlier version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

M. Firoze Quamar

M. FIROZE QUAMAR is presently working as a Research Scientist (Scientist “C”) at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow, India. He, after passing his Matriculation in 1994 from Sri Gandhi High School (a Government Hindi-medium School), Parihar, Sitamarhi (Bihar, India), enrolled for Intermediate (Science) in Ram Dayalu Singh (RDS) College, Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and passed his Intermediate examination in 1996. After completing his Graduation (B.Sc. [Hons] Botany) in 1999 from the same college, he went to the University Department of Botany, Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), India and earned his master degree (M.Sc.) in Botany with specialization in Plant Biotechnology in 2001, though the final examination was held in 2004. He joined BSIP, Lucknow as a Birbal Sahni Research Scholar (BSRS) in 2007 and completed his Ph.D. (in Botany) from Lucknow University, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), India in 2011. He also worked as a Birbal Sahni Research Associate (BSRA) in BSIP from 2011 to 2013. He was selected as Scientist “B” in BSIP in October 2013. He is a Quaternary palynologist by training and his research interests mainly include the reconstruction of palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate in the central Indian core monsoon zone (CMZ) as well as in the Western Indian Himalaya during the Late Quaternary, based mainly on pollen evidence. He has published 43 research papers (including 5 review articles) and 7 meeting reports in peer-reviewed journals.

Ratan Kar

RATAN KAR is currently working as Scientist ‘E’ at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India. He has specialization in palynology and has worked on a wide range of problems of varying ages and areas which involve the use of palynofossils for their resolution; such as Gondwana sediments (Permiam-Triassic), Deccan Intertrappean beds (Upper Cretaceous-Early Palaeocene) and Quaternary fluvio-glacial and lacustrine deposits of the Higher Himalayas and the Arctic Region. His current research interests in Quaternary palaeoclimate studies are looking into the aspects of vegetation succession and climate change from the glacial sites in western Himalaya and deciphering the anthropogenic impact on the degradation of tree-line in the Higher Himalaya.