Pollen-rain-vegetation relationships along a forest-savanna transect in southeastern Cameroon

Modern soil and litter samples from southeastern Cameroon, collected along a continuous forest-savanna transect were analysed for pollen content to de fine modern pollen-vegetation relationships. The pollen results, completed and compared with botanical inventories, leaf area index and basal area mea surements performed in the same area, clearly registered the physiognomy, t he main floristic composition and floral richness of the two sampled ecosys tems. Distortions were observed between sampled vegetations and their polle n rain, related to important differences in pollen production and dispersal of plant species: this is a general feature in many tropical regions. The pollen data in the area studied reflected well the recent transgression of forest versus savanna. This permitted us to define inside the forest ecosys tem more successional vegetation communities than the botanical surveys all owed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.