Distribución espacial del polen en un gradiente altitudinal en Michoacán, México

Abstract

The Balsas region has been considered a hot spot for conservation, due to its high diversity and endemism, and was selected as our study area. We studied the relation between the vegetation and the pollen rain composition from this area. The pollen rain is composed by all the pollen grains and spores produced by the plants from a region, and it has been stored in different deposits. A total of 16 samples were analyzed from 3 different sites located in the Mil Cumbres Subprovince of the Balsas medium watershed: Tzitzio, La Escalera and Ichaqueo. Moss samples at every site, were collected, from which the pollen grains were extracted, identified and counted. Vegetation structure was analyzed using 20 × 20 m plots. We found 45 pollen taxa; the most common were Pinus, Quercus, Compositae and Mimosoideae. The pollen rain identified 2 vegetation types: a temperate forest and the tropical dry forest. In all sites taxa from secondary vegetation were present, indicating that the area was under different levels of disturbance.