Modern Pollen -Spore Assemblage from sediment of tropical moist Deciduous forest, East Garo Hills, Meghalaya

Modern moss and subsurface soil samples were analysed with a view to assess pollen/vegetation relationships from Rongrengiri, Darugiri and Songsak reserve forests, East Garo Hills, Meghalaya. The study has depicted the occurrence of mixed pollen assemblage comprising Angiosperms, Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes among which nonarboreal taxa dominated over arboreals indicating the existence of an open lowland forest. The comparison between pollen spectra and vegetation shows site to site variation in pollen assemblage in relation to heterogeneity of the forest. The occurrence of exotic plants are suggestive of long distance transportation of pollen from high elevation. The evidence of degraded pollen and spores along with adequate fungal remains signify the biological degradation during sedimentation. The abundance of both monolete and trilete fern spores indicate humid climatic condition. This study also raised an alarm that the face value interpretation of pollen diagram is not relied upon for the reconstruction of palaeofloristics; rather the interpretation should be based on the signals come forth from the modern pollen spectra.