Recent pollen spectra from Shimla water catchment sanctuary, Kufri (HP): Implications to interpret Holocene pollen records

Abstract

A better understanding on the connection between pollen assemblages and the vegetation that produced them is crucial to reconstruct past habitats and vegetation. Hence, it is necessary to comprehend the level of representation of plants in the modern pollen rain in a given study area. To ascertain the composition of pollen deposited on the surface sediments, palynological analysis of 19 surface soil (SS) samples and moss cushions (MSs) taken from various sites on the surface of the Shimla Water Catchment Wildlife Sanctuary (SWCWS), Kufri, Himachal Pradesh (India) was used in the current study. The dominance of arboreal pollen (trees and shrubs) over the non-arboreal pollen (herbs) was observed. Among the trees, conifers such as Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana and Abies pindrow were found in MSs as well as in SS samples. The representation of these taxa corresponds with their factual presence in the forest floristics in the region. The moist and shady habitats loving broad-leaved tree elements such as Quercus and Rhododendron were also found in good numbers. Two multivariate statistical methods, cluster analysis and principal components analysis, were used to study the associations of studies pollen taxa and the variability among them. All the 19 samples were clustered into four. This analysis will help to interpret the palaeodata whether the landscape was influenced by anthropogenic activities or not in the recent past.