Pollen morphology of selected tundra plants from the high Arctic of Ny-A~lesund, Svalbard

摘要

Documenting morphological features of modern pollen is fundamental for the identification of fossil pollen, which willassist researchers to reconstruct the vegetation and climate of a particular geologic period. This paper presents the pollen morphol-ogy of 20 species of tundra plants from the high Arctic of Ny- lesund, Svalbard, using light and scanning electron microscopy.The plants used in this study belong to 12 families: Brassicaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Cyperaceae, Ericaceae, Juncaceae, Papav-eraceae, Poaceae, Polygonaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rosaceae, Salicaceae, and Scrophulariaceae. Pollen grain shapes included: spher-oidal, subprolate, and prolate. Variable apertural patterns ranged from 2-syncolpate, 3-colpate, 3-(-4)-colpate, 3-(-5)-colpate,3-colporate, 5-poroid, ulcerate, ulcus to pantoporate. Exine ornamentations comprised psilate, striate-perforate, reticulate, mi-croechinate, microechinate-perforate, scabrate, granulate, and granulate-perforate. This study provided a useful reference for com-parative studies of fossil pollen and for the reconstruction of paleovegetation and paleoclimate in Svalbard region of Arctic.