Abstract
INCREASING evidence indicates that late glacial and postglacial changes in climate and vegetation were essentially synchronous in the northern and southern hemispheres1,2. Pollen analysis of Quaternary deposits on subantarctic ocean islands should provide critical data, but has been inconclusive. The floras of most of the islands are depauperate and yield few identifiable sporomorphs. Species represented in the pollen rain are often of narrow geographical distribution and broad ecological tolerance, thus interpretation of changes in pollen and spore ratios and cross-correlations between islands are difficult3. These problems can be minimized by sampling in a location with a comparatively large flora, with many species widely distributed in the subantarctic, and with a variety of vegetation types. Kerguelen Islands fulfil these requirements.
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YOUNG, S., SCHOFIELD, E. Pollen Evidence for Late Quaternary Climate Changes on Kerguelen Islands. Nature 245, 311–312 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/245311a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/245311a0
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