POLLEN ANALYSIS AND ORDINATION OF LAKE SEDIMENT-SURFACE SAMPLES FROM COASTAL BRITISH-COLUMBIA, CANADA

Surficial sediment samples from 42 lakes, distributed from sea level t o alpine elevations of coastal British Columbia and northwest Washingt on, were analyzed for pollen and spores. Pollen analysis revealed char acteristic differences among the assemblages of the Coastal Western He mlock, Mountain Hemlock, and Engelmann Spruce - Subalpine Fir biogeocl imatic zones (the Alpine zone is less clearly identifiable). Cluster a nalysis and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) correctly group th e sites according to their biogeoclimatic zones and also by geographic origin. DCA indicates a high correlation between the biogeoclimatic z ones of the sample sites and annual precipitation (-0.89), January tem perature (-0.77), annual temperature (-0.64), and growing-season preci pitation (-0.68). Further analysis of the samples and eight environmen tal gradients using canonical correspondence analysis groups the polle n assemblages from the study sites into biogeoclimatic zones in relati on to annual precipitation, growing-season precipitation, annual snowf all, annual temperature, and growing degree-days. These data are usefu l for testing whether or not postglacial pollen assemblages have moder n analogues.