Herb pollen representation in surface moss samples from mown meadows and pastures in western Norway

Grazed and mown vegetation types in western Norway were investigated with the aim of describing their modern pollen/vegetation relationships as an aid to the interpretation of fossil pollen diagrams. Pollen surface samples and vegetation data were obtained from 186 square metre plots within 39 different sites of 10x10 m. Scatter plots that show the relationship between pollen percentages and vegetation percentages are presented for Trifolium pratense-type, Trifolium repens-type, Lotus, Campanula-type, Succisa, Ranunculus acris-type, Cirsium-type, Asteraceae Cichorioideae, Achillea-type, Potentilla-type, Apiaceae, Rumex sect. Acetosa, Galium-type, Cyperaceae, Calluna, Plantago lanceolata and Poaceae. Pollen representation factors relative to Poaceae (R-rel) are calculated for 54 pollen taxa. Differences in the values from different geographical areas were found in the case of some taxa, due to either different genera or species being included in the pollen taxa and/or to the different representation of high pollen producers in the different regional vegetation types. Background pollen influences the estimates for taxa such as R. sect. Acetosa, P. lanceolata, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Calluna, and an extended R-value (ERV) model was used to investigate the magnitude of this pollen component. Groups of roughly similar pollen representation were identified and factors to convert pollen percentages to vegetation abundances are suggested.