High dissimilarity within a multiyear annual record of pollen assemblages from a North American tallgrass prairie.

ABSTRACT: Grassland vegetation varies in composition across North America and has been historically influenced by multiple biotic and abiotic drivers, including fire, herbivory, and topography. Yet, the amount of temporal and spatial variability exhibited among grassland pollen assemblages, and the influence of these biotic and abiotic drivers on pollen assemblage composition and diversity has been relatively understudied. Here, we examine 4 years of modern pollen assemblages collected from a series of 28 traps at the Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research Area in the Flint Hills of Kansas, with the aim of evaluating the influence of these drivers, as well as quantifying the amount of spatial and temporal variability in the pollen signatures of the tallgrass prairie biome. We include all terres

SUBMITTER: Commerford JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4984503 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature