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    Pollen in Peat Bogs

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    DAUNTLESS02
    Pollen preserved in peat bogs can be used to reconstruct past climates by identifying plant species from different depths. Scientists extract pollen grains from peat bog cores to see how plant populations varied over thousands of years. Changes in the proportions of different plant pollens indicate shifts in temperature, since plant ranges are limited by climate. Analysis of a peat bog core showed increasing oak pollen and decreasing fir pollen between 7,100 and 3,100 years ago, suggesting the climate warmed during this period.

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    Pollen in Peat Bogs

    Uploaded by

    DAUNTLESS02
    219 views1 page
    Pollen preserved in peat bogs can be used to reconstruct past climates by identifying plant species from different depths. Scientists extract pollen grains from peat bog cores to see how plant populations varied over thousands of years. Changes in the proportions of different plant pollens indicate shifts in temperature, since plant ranges are limited by climate. Analysis of a peat bog core showed increasing oak pollen and decreasing fir pollen between 7,100 and 3,100 years ago, suggesting the climate warmed during this period.

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    Pollen preserved in peat bogs can be used to reconstruct past climates by identifying plant species from different depths. Scientists extract pollen grains from peat bog cores to see how plant populations varied over thousands of years. Changes in the proportions of different plant pollens indicate shifts in temperature, since plant ranges are limited by climate. Analysis of a peat bog core showed increasing oak pollen and decreasing fir pollen between 7,100 and 3,100 years ago, suggesting the climate warmed during this period.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    219 views1 page

    Pollen in Peat Bogs

    Uploaded by

    DAUNTLESS02
    Pollen preserved in peat bogs can be used to reconstruct past climates by identifying plant species from different depths. Scientists extract pollen grains from peat bog cores to see how plant populations varied over thousands of years. Changes in the proportions of different plant pollens indicate shifts in temperature, since plant ranges are limited by climate. Analysis of a peat bog core showed increasing oak pollen and decreasing fir pollen between 7,100 and 3,100 years ago, suggesting the climate warmed during this period.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Pollen in Peat Bogs

    Pollen in peat bogs can be used to show how temperature has changed over thousands of years. Here’s how it
    works:
    1. Pollen is often preserved in peat bogs (acidic wetland areas)
    2. Peat bogs accumulate in layers so the age of the preserved pollen increases with depth
    3. Scientists can take cores from peat bogs and extract pollen grains from the different aged layers. They then fully
    identify the plant species the pollen came from
    4. Only fully grown (mature) plant species produce pollen, so the samples only show species that were successful
    at the time
    5. Scientists know the climates that different plant species live now. When they find preserved pollen from similar
    plants, it indicates that the climate was similar when that pollen was produced
    6. Because plant species vary with climate the preserved pollen will vary as climate changes over time
    7. So a gradual increase in pollen from a plant species that’s more successful in warmer climates would show a rise
    in temperature (a decrease in pollen from a plant that needs cold conditions would show the same thing)
    8. Here’s an example of how pollen in peat bogs can provide evidence for global warming events in the past

    Depth of Approximate Number of pollen grains in


    sample age of sample sample
    (metres) (years) Oak Fir
    0.5 3100 253 28
    1.0 4200 194 121
    1.5 5700 138 167
    2.0 7100 51 231

    1) The table shows data on samples of pollen taken from a core of a peat bog
    2) Between 7100 and 3100 years ago the number of oak tree pollen grains increased from 51 grains to 253 grains
    3) This suggests that the climate in the area had become better for oak trees – more oak trees reached maturity and
    produced pollen
    4) Between 7100 and 3100 years ago the number of for tree pollen grains in the sample decreased from 231 grains to 28
    5) This suggests that the climate in the area had become worse for fir trees – fewer fir trees reached maturity and
    produced pollen
    6) Today, oak trees are mainly found in temperate (mild) regions, and fir trees are mainly found in cooler regions
    7) This suggests that the temperature around the peat bog increased over this time period – a warming event had
    occurred

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