Relationship of Surface Pollen with Climate and Vertical Vegetation Communities in Subtropical Mountainous in Southern China

Pollen analysis is one of the environmental proxies useful for quantitative reconstruction of paleoecology and paleoclimate, and the establishment of a quantitative relationship between surface pollen and vegetation is crucial for accurate interpretation of paleoecology and paleoclimate from fossil pollen. In this study, to explore the relationships between surface pollen assemblages and vegetation and altitude, 113 samples of modern surface pollen and moss were collected from the vertical vegetation zones in central south subtropical China. Based on the results of Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), the study revealed the connections between the distribution of pollen taxa at different elevations and with various climate factors. The main results are as follows: 1) Castanopsis, Quercus-evergreen, Pinus, Cunninghamia and Euphorbiaceae were the dominant pollen taxa of the arbors, and Poaceae, Artemisia, Compositae, and Cyperaceae were the main components of the herbs. Trilete, Dicranopteris, Polypodiaceae