title: Utility of surface pollen assemblages to delimit Eastern Eurasian steppe types.
abstract: Modern pollen records have been used to successfully distinguish between specific prairie types in North America. Whether the pollen records can be used to detect the occurrence of Eurasian steppe, or even to further delimit various steppe types was until now unclear. Here we characterized modern pollen assemblages of meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe from eastern Eurasia along an ecological humidity gradient. The multivariate ordination of the pollen data indicated that Eurasian steppe types could be clearly differentiated. The different steppe types could be distinguished primarily by xerophilous elements in the pollen assemblages. Redundancy analysis indicated that the relative abundances of Ephedra, Tamarix, Nitraria and Zygophyllaceae were positively correlated with aridity. The relative abundances of Ephedra increased from meadow steppe to typical steppe and desert steppe. Tamarix and Zygophyllaceae were found in both typical steppe and desert steppe, but not in meadow steppe. Nitraria was only found in desert steppe. The relative abundances of xerophilous elements were greater in desert steppe than in typical steppe. These findings indicate that Eurasian steppe types can be differentiated based on recent pollen rain.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China; Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Nature Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China; Institute of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna, A-1090, Austria.
authors.forename: David K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, 276005, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Meng
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Beijing Radiation Center, Beijing Academy of Science and Technology, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Zhen
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
authors.forename: Cheng-Sen
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D017753:Ecosystem; D065948:Grassland; D006813:Humidity; D008986:Mongolia; D011058:Pollen; D013696:Temperature