| The European Pollen Monitoring
Programme, which is a Working Group of the Holocene
Commision of INQUA (International Quaternary
Association), was launched at a meeting in Kuusamo and
Hailuoto, Finland 4 - 8th July, 1996 and will run
initially for three years. The aim of the programme is to
use pollen traps to monitor pollen deposition across
vegetation transitions from closed forest to open
situations under as natural conditions as possible as a
basis for interpreting fossil pollen spectra. By this
means POLLEN INFLUX values (grains cm-2 year-1) will be
obtained for key European tree and shrub species.
Participation in the programme is open to any researcher.
The minimum requirement is a transect of three pollen
traps placed: 1) in the forest, 2) at the forest edge
and, 3) in the unforested area. Traps for the first stage
of the programme should be established at the end of the
flowering season (September-October) 1996. After that
date each addition of traps to the programme should
commence at the same time of year (September-October) to
ensure that the sampling period is always the same. |
| Precise details of the programme are
set out in the publication "European Pollen
Monitoring Project. Project Description and
Guidelines" which can be obtained from the project
organizer: Dr Sheila Hicks, Department of Geosciences and
Astronomy, University of Oulu, Linnanmaa, 90570 OULU,
Finland. (Fax: +358-8-5531484, e-mail: sheila.hicks@oulu.fi).
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