GLACIAL AND POSTGLACIAL POLLEN RECORDS FROM THE ECUADORIAN ANDES AND AMAZON

A long pollen record is derived from sediments of a lake dammed behind a low moraine of the last glaciation at 3 degrees S latitude in the E cuadorian Andes and is compared with a glacial age pollen record from the Amazon rainforest immediately below, Lake Surucucho (Llaviucu) lie s at 3180 m on the Amazonian flank of the Andes and above the glacial age pollen record from San Juan Bosco at 970 m, The Surucucho pollen r ecord is interpreted as showing treeless vegetation in glacial times, advance of treeline in late-glacial time, and Holocene development of modern Andean forests. Combining the Surucucho and San Juan Bosco reco rds shows that Andean vegetation was affected by glacial cooling at al l elevations, Vegetation did not move up and down slope as belts, Rath er, plant associations were reformed as temperature-sensitive species found different centers of distribution with changing temperature. (C) 1997 University of Washington.