Qin Feng, Wang Yu-Fei, Ferguson David K, Chen Wen-Li, Li Ya-Meng, Cai Zhe, Wang Qing, Ma Hong-Zhen, Li Cheng-Sen
State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China; Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Nature Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 12;10(3):e0119412. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119412. eCollection 2015.
Modern pollen records have been used to successfully distinguish between specific prairie types in North America. Whether the pollen records can be used to detect the occurrence of Eurasian steppe, or even to further delimit various steppe types was until now unclear. Here we characterized modern pollen assemblages of meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe from eastern Eurasia along an ecological humidity gradient. The multivariate ordination of the pollen data indicated that Eurasian steppe types could be clearly differentiated. The different steppe types could be distinguished primarily by xerophilous elements in the pollen assemblages. Redundancy analysis indicated that the relative abundances of Ephedra, Tamarix, Nitraria and Zygophyllaceae were positively correlated with aridity. The relative abundances of Ephedra increased from meadow steppe to typical steppe and desert steppe. Tamarix and Zygophyllaceae were found in both typical steppe and desert steppe, but not in meadow steppe. Nitraria was only found in desert steppe. The relative abundances of xerophilous elements were greater in desert steppe than in typical steppe. These findings indicate that Eurasian steppe types can be differentiated based on recent pollen rain.
现代花粉记录已被成功用于区分北美特定的草原类型。到目前为止，尚不清楚花粉记录是否可用于检测欧亚草原的出现，甚至进一步划分各种草原类型。在此，我们沿着生态湿度梯度对来自欧亚大陆东部的草甸草原、典型草原和荒漠草原的现代花粉组合进行了特征描述。花粉数据的多元排序表明，欧亚草原类型可以清晰区分。不同的草原类型主要可以通过花粉组合中的旱生成分来区分。冗余分析表明，麻黄、柽柳、白刺和蒺藜科的相对丰度与干旱呈正相关。麻黄的相对丰度从草甸草原到典型草原和荒漠草原逐渐增加。柽柳和蒺藜科在典型草原和荒漠草原中均有发现，但在草甸草原中未发现。白刺仅在荒漠草原中发现。荒漠草原中旱生成分的相对丰度高于典型草原。这些发现表明，欧亚草原类型可以根据近期的花粉沉降来区分。
