Pollen deposition pattern in Kathali wetland and its adjoining areas of Garo Hills, Meghalaya, northeast India

Abstract

This paper presents a palynological dataset on Kathali wetland and vicinity forest area to characterize the pollen depositional pattern in relation to existing vegetation. The overall palynodata is suggestive of the tropical deciduous forest admixture with the evergreen taxa which coheres with extant vegetation. Pollen clumping in the palynoassemblage was highly significant and suggests their local origin and entomophilous nature. The various pollen distributions were observed in continuation at study sites which confirmed that the pollen deposition pattern in wetland depends on parent plant growth, water level and surrounding vegetation. The main forest elements include Syzygium, Salmalia, Lagerstroemia, Duabanga and Barringtonia along with Impatiens in the palynoassemblage which strongly indicate the high rainfall in the region. Thus, the generated modern palynodata could be precisely utilized to reconstruct the palaeovegetation and past climate in relation to palaeomonsoonal activity through the pollen analysis of sedimentary core/profile from the region and its correlation with other tropical parts of India and Asia.