A methodological proposal for the recovery of palynomorphs from snow and ice samples

• Main Authors: Luiz Antonio da Costa Rodrigues, Kamila da Matta Agostini, Alexandre Santos de Alencar, Cláudia Barbieri Ferreira Mendonça, Marcelo Araújo de Carvalho, Vania Gonçalves-Esteves
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Botânica do Brasil 2018-04-01
• Series: Acta Botânica Brasílica
• Subjects: Antarctica; ice; spores; snow; technique to recover grains of pollen
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-33062018005005103&lng=en&tlng=en

ABSTRACT The procedures for a set of techniques to recover grains of pollen 26 and spores from liquid samples are described. Liquefied samples of matrices, such as melting lakes, snow and ice, can provide a record of climatic and environmental events at different geographic and temporal scales. The need for standardization of techniques was demonstrated in research carried out with matrices of snow and water of thawing lakes and snow collected on King George and Joinville islands (Antarctica). The use of the methods described can permit increased rescue of palynomorphs from liquid matrices, thereby adding greater reliability to palynological data and its use as a biotracer of environmental events. Methods of sieving and centrifugation were tested, and sieving proved more efficient for the matrices analyzed.