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Features of Spore and Pollen Preservation in Permafrost-Affected Soils of Yakutia

  • GENESIS AND GEOGRAPHY OF SOILS
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Abstract—

The article presents the results of studying the spores and pollen preservation in soils of the permafrost zone in Yakutia (Kolyma Lowland, Bykovsky Peninsula, Yakutsk and its neighborhood). Data on the qualitative and quantitative composition of palynomorphs and on the patterns of their damage are discussed, and the mechanism of their cryogenic destruction is analyzed. Palynological residues with destruction of the chemical-biotic type (thinning of the walls, the formation of cavities as a result of the chemical action of microbes on them) are present singly or absent, which is probably due to the specificity of permafrost with a predominance of low temperatures throughout the year and a generally suppressed microbiological activity. Palynomorph damages of the physical type (ruptures and cracks) usually predominate. In samples from mineral horizons of loamy soils, the content of damaged palynological remains is 5–10%; in mineral horizons of sandy soil, it reaches 20%. In sandy soil, the content of unfrozen water films performing a cryoprotective role is low, and the palynomorphs are more susceptible to destruction by growing ice crystals during freezing. The large-size Gymnospermae pollen of Pinus and Larix is most susceptible to destruction. Damages are usually present on the dominant pollen of Poaceae and Betula sect. Nanae, as well as of Cyperaceae and Ericaceae. Few damage cases are characteristic of pollen grains of minor taxa: Salix, Duschekia, Asteraceae, Onagraceae, Ranunculaceae, Caryophyllaceae and of spores of Sphagnum and Bryales. There are no damages on pollen of herbs Valeriana, Polemonium, Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, and Polygonaceae and on spores of Lycopodium, Diphasiastrum, Selaginella, and Polypodiaceae. The results can be used in the reconstruction of paleogeographic conditions for buried soils, as well as in the study of cryopreservation of biological objects in permafrost areas.

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Funding

The collection of factual material and studies into the preservation of palynomorphs were supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 20-05-00559-A. Soil samples were analyzed with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 19-29-05003 MK. The study of modern soils of Yakutia was carried out within the framework of the state assignment of the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the statistical analysis of palynological data and synthesis of the materials were performed within the framework of the state assignment of the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    D. A. Lopatina

  2. Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Science, 142290, Pushchino, Russia

    O. G. Zanina & D. G. Fedorov-Davydov

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  1. D. A. Lopatina
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  2. O. G. Zanina
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  3. D. G. Fedorov-Davydov
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Correspondence to O. G. Zanina.

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Translated by D. Konyushkov

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Table S1 . Description of studied soils

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Lopatina, D.A., Zanina, O.G. & Fedorov-Davydov, D.G. Features of Spore and Pollen Preservation in Permafrost-Affected Soils of Yakutia. Eurasian Soil Sc. 55, 1016–1027 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229322080099

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