Modern Pollen rain in the tropical mixed Deciduous forests in district Umaria, Madhya Pradesh

Pollen analysis of 6 surface samples from the tropical mixed deciduous forests at Paudi, district Umaria has been carried out to understand the pollen-vegetation relationship in the region. The pollen assemblage demonstrates relatively better representation of non-arboreals (herbs) in contrast to arboreals (trees & shrubs). Among the trees, Madhuca indica, Holoptelea, Acacia, etc. are very frequent in most of the samples and the representation of these taxa corresponds with their composition in the forest floristics. However, the excessively high frequencies of Madhuca indica, in some of the spectra could be attributed to its local preponderance. On the other hand Shorea robusta and other forest components viz., Terminalia, Mitragyna, Adina cordifolia, Aegle marmelos, Lannea coromandelica, Sterculia, etc. are encountered very scantily, despite their frequent presence in the forest. The under-representation of these taxa could be inferred to their low pollen production, since majority of the tropical trees portray a strong tendency of entomophilly. Grasses (Poaceae) followed by Tubuliflorae, Xanthium, sedges (Cyperaceae), etc. are the prominent herbaceous elements and their presence in appreciable frequencies in the pollen spectra compares more or less with their factual occurrence in the ground flora. The record of pollen of cereal pollen type (Cerealia) and ruderal plants viz., Brassicaceae and Cheno./Am. depicts the proximity of cultivated land to the investigation site. The abundance of fern spores, though in fluctuating values, envisages their origin from the local sources as ferns and their allies flourish in moist and shady situations. Furthermore, a large number of arboreals and non-arboreal taxa remain untraceable in the sediments, probably due to selective preservation as well as microbial degradation of their pollen. The comparative database generated on pollenvegetation interplay will serve as a modern analogue for the proper assessment of fossil pollen spectra from the region in terms of past vegetation and climate.