STOMATE AND POLLEN CONTENT OF LAKE SURFACE SEDIMENTS FROM ACROSS THE TREE LINE ON THE TAIMYR PENINSULA, SIBERIA

Surface-sediment samples from 23 lakes on the Taimyr Peninsula were co llected along a transect from tundra to forest and analyzed for their pollen and coniferous stomate content. Larix sibirica, the dominant tr ee in forest-tundra and forest vegetation zones, is poorly represented in the pollen spectra, never exceeding 8%. To examine the corresponde nce between the modern pollen rain and the vegetation zones of tundra, forest-tundra, and forest, a principal components analysis was applie d to the pollen percentages. Betula and Alnus account for the greatest variance in the data set, and the set of tundra sites farthest north is distinct from the forest sites farthest south. Stomates of L. sibir ica are present in all samples from sites where Larix trees are presen t, and some samples contained higher concentrations of stomates than p ollen of Larix. Picea obovata stomates are found less consistently and less abundantly than Larix stomates.