Surface pollen distribution from Akhnoor of Jammu District (Jammu and Kashmir), India: implications for the interpretation of fossil pollen records

Abstract

The present study aims to document modern pollen assemblages and compare them with the extant vegetation, through palynological analysis of 40 modern moss cushions, from the Akhnoor sector of Jammu District (Jammu and Kashmir), India. The study revealed that the pollen of Pinus sp. (average 62%) dominates the pollen assemblages. The over-representation of Pinus pollen could be attributed to its high pollen productivity and excellent pollen dispersal capacity. However, other conifers (needle-leaved taxa) as well as broad-leaved taxa, with a few exceptions, are either sporadically recorded or remain palynologically silent (present in the extant vegetation but absent in the recovered pollen assemblages). This discrepancy could be owing to their long-distance transport by wind and/or water from the upland areas/the higher reaches of the Himalaya. Tubuliflorae, Cerealia and other cultural pollen taxa, and Poaceae, are well to poorly represented in the pollen assemblages. The associates of sub-tropical deciduous forests are poorly represented in the pollen spectra because they are not wind pollinated nor are they high pollen producers. The extant vegetation of the sampling location in Akhnoor of Jammu province plays a pivotal role in the present study, which has important implications for the interpretation of vegetation dynamics and associated climate change during the Holocene on the Indian subcontinent.

Keywords:

• Palynology
• moss cushions
• vegetation dynamics
• climate change
• Akhnoor
• Jammu District (Jammu and Kashmir State)
• India

Acknowledgements

I am thankful to Professor (Dr) Sunil Bajpai, Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), India, for providing the infrastructure facilities to complete the research work and also for permission to publish. Dr Katherine Holt, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, New Zealand, is thanked for her insightful and authoritative comments on earlier versions of the manuscript, which helped me improve its quality. Special thanks are also extended to Dr K. Holt for polishing the English language. Two other, anonymous reviewers are thanked for their insightful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. Thanks are also due to Dr James B. Riding, Managing Editor, Palynology, for his encouragement and to Dr Biswajeet Thakur, Scientist-D, BSIP (India), for his kind help.

Funding

The research work was carried out with the financial assistance received from the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, India, under the DST Fast Track Young Scientist Project (SR/FTP/ES-81/2013, dated 20 January 2014).

Notes on contributors

MD. FIROZE QUAMAR is presently working as a research scientist (Scientist ‘C’) at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow, India. After passing his matriculation in 1994 from Sri Gandhi High School (a Government Hindi-medium School), Parihar, Sitamarhi (Bihar, India), he enrolled in Intermediate (Science) in Ram Dayalu Singh (RDS) College, Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and passed his Intermediate examination in 1996. After graduating (BSc 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, in 2001 and earned his MSc in botany (with specialisation in plant biotechnology) officially in 2001, although the final examination was held in 2003 and results came out in 2004. He joined BSIP, Lucknow as a Birbal Sahni Research Scholar (BSRS) in 2007 and completed his PhD (in botany) from Lucknow University, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), India, in 2011. He also worked as a Birbal Sahni Research Associate (BSRA) in BSIP from May 2011 to 29 October 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 from the central Indian core monsoon zone (CMZ), as well as from the Western Himalaya (India) during the Late Quaternary, based mainly on pollen evidence. He has published 44 research papers (including five review articles) and seven meeting reports in peer-reviewed journals.