Doctoral Dissertation Research: Pollen Dispersal and Deposition on Tropical Andean Ice Caps: Quelccaya, Peru, and Nevada Sajama, Bolivia

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Recent developments in the new science of tropical ice-core palynology have demonstrated that the fossil pollen found in ice cores drawn from alpine glaciers and polar ice caps can provide sensitive records of past vegetational and climatic changes. To date, however, this science has been done in tropical alpine environments without the full understanding of pollen dispersal and depositional characteristics; a key factor for a reliable and accurate interpretation of ice-core palynological records. This doctoral dissertation research project will study the patterns and processes of pollen dispersal and deposition on the tropical Andean ice caps of Quelccaya in Peru and Nevada Sajama in Bolivia. This project will analyze the modern pollen found on the ice caps themselves and in the surrounding vegetation zones. Aside from the ice caps, pollen surface samples will be collected from the major vegetation zones in the central Andes as well as from the subalpine and lowland zones to the west (extending to the Pacific Ocean) and east (into the Amazon lowlands). A biogeographical surface pollen study will help address questions of dispersal patterns, pollen provenance, regional pollen-rain signatures, sensitivity of the ice-core pollen records, and how each of these factors are reflected in the distribution and assemblages of pollen found on the ice caps.This project will advance fundamental understandings in the rapidly growing field of ice-core palynology. It will provide new insights into vegetation change in and near the central Andes, thereby complementing data from other sources that is examining environmental change in the region. The project will further the effectiveness of future pollen studies in the central Andes by broadening knowledge about modern relationships among pollen, vegetation, and climate in the region, thus laying the groundwork for the derivation of pollen-climate transfer functions and response surfaces. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.