Pollen and spores extracted from sediment are considered as the important proxy in reconstructing past vegetation and climate, and which plays essential role in investigating environmental evolution during the Quaternary. Accurate identification of pollen and spore is the base for palynological research, which determines it is quite necessary to establish modern atlas for pollen and spore. Supported by the projects the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences “Pan-Third Pole Environment Study for a Green Silk Road (Pan-TPE)” and The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research, authors completed the vegetation and soil surveys in 2018 for the alpine meadow in the east Tibetan Plateau (including Yushu Prefecture, Changdu City, Ganzi prefecture, Naqu City) and alpine forest in the southeast Tibetan Plateau (Linzhi City) , and collected 401 specimens for anther of flowering plants and sporangium of ferns. Pollen and spores were extracted and from these specimens using the standard acid-alkali approach and acetolysis (9:1 mixture of acetic anhydride and sulphuric acid) treatment, and further were refrigerated in glycerin. More than two photographs were took for each pollen and spore type, using the LEICA-dm-2500 optical microscope and its imaging system with scale. The atlas of pollen and spore morphology will be a valuable reference for palynology research and teaching.

File naming and required software

The photos of each sporopollen specimen are kept in a separate folder, named by species name (Latin name and Chinese name) and serial number. The sporopollen specimens of the same family are stored in the same folder, and all the files are named by Latin name and Chinese name.

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Cite as:

Cao, X., Tian, F., Li, K., Ni, J. (2020). Atlas of pollen and spores for common plants from the east Tibetan Plateau. A Big Earth Data Platform for Three Poles, DOI: 10.11888/Paleoenv.tpdc.270735. CSTR: 18406.11.Paleoenv.tpdc.270735. (Download the reference： RIS | Bibtex )

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Support Program

National Natural Science Foundation of China (No:41877459)

Chinese Academy of Sciences Pioneer Hundred Talents Program

Pan-Third Pole Environment Study for a Green Silk Road-A CAS Strategic Priority A Program (No:XDA20000000)

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