From lakes to rates of vegetation change (IMAGE)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

From lakes to rates of vegetation change

Caption

To study past plant ecosystems and how they changed, a lake or other suitable environment is cored to retrieve the layered sediments which usually contain pollen grains that accumulated over thousands of years. By identifying and counting the different pollen grains researchers can then reconstruct the local vegetation composition. Finally, the rate of vegetation change is estimated from the changes in pollen abundances through time.

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Artwork by Milan Teunissen van Manen

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