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Modern Vegetation and Pollen Relationships in Four Southwestern Atlantic Coastal Lagoons

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Abstract

Pollen studies and their relationship with modern vegetation facilitate paleoecological reconstructions while changes in pollen abundance are indicators of environmental fluctuations. We analyzed the relationships between recent pollen deposits in the sediments of four Uruguayan coastal lagoons and catchment vegetation and analyzed the temporal dynamics of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). We mapped terrestrial vegetation, sampled SAV biomass, and analyzed the pollen record in each lagoon. The sediment samples represented the last 49–76 years of deposition, and most vegetation types were well represented in the pollen records. Pollen of Chenopodiaceae, proposed as indicators of saltmarshes, decreased in the surface samples of all lagoons, possibly due to the salinity reduction promoted by precipitation changes in the region. Pollen of SAV was found in all lagoons but with gaps in the record, and a submerged vegetated phase was recorded. Simultaneous botanical and pollen analyses better captured the large fluctuations of SAV in coastal lagoons.

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments are due to Dr. Angeles Beri of the Laboratorio de Palinología de la Facultad de Ciencias—UdelaR for allowing us to use her laboratory facilities, to Silvina Stutz of the Laboratorio de Paleoecología y Palinología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata for her technical support and inspiring comments, to Dr. Daniel Conde, M.Sc. Leticia Tejera and Dr. Felipe García-Rodríguez for their technical support, to Prof. Daniel Panario for his inspiring comments, and to the Project PPR “Laguna de Castillos y Palmar de Butiá” that supplied the modern vegetation map of Laguna de Castillos. This study was possible due to the funding of Comisión Sectorial de Investigación Científica project C09, program of support to doctorates, Programa de Desarrollo Tecnológico project 3609, Programa de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas (PEDECIBA, doctoral programe).

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  1. Sección Limnología, Instituto de Ecología y Ciencias Ambientales, Facultad de Ciencias—UdelaR, Iguá 4225, Montevideo, 11400, Uruguay

    Lorena Rodríguez-Gallego & Silvana Masciadri

  2. Vida Silvestre Uruguay, Canelones 1164, Montevideo, 11100, Uruguay

    Mariana Nin

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  1. Lorena Rodríguez-Gallego
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Correspondence to Lorena Rodríguez-Gallego.

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Rodríguez-Gallego, L., Masciadri, S. & Nin, M. Modern Vegetation and Pollen Relationships in Four Southwestern Atlantic Coastal Lagoons. Estuaries and Coasts 35, 785–798 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-012-9476-0

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