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Article: Pollen provides ancient weather report.
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- April 8, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Pollen provides ancient weather report
For allergy sufferers, pollen seems to exist for the sole purpose of making people miserable. But palynologists, who study pollen and spores, say the plant grains are nothing to sneeze at. Since pollen can survive in sediments and rock for thousands and even millions of years, it gives scientists a portrait of the plants that once covered an area. At the forefront of pollen science, a new study shows these tiny reproductive elements can provide a detailed record of climate fluctuations during the last Ice Age cycle.
Researchers from the Laboratory of Historical Botany and Palynology in Marseilles, France, report in ...