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Pollen percentages, tree abundances and the Fagerlind effect
Author(s) -
Prentice I. C.,
Webb T.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.3390010105
Subject(s) - pollen , tree (set theory) , taxon , linear regression , regression , calibration , mathematics , statistics , linearity , physical geography , biology , ecology , geography , physics , combinatorics , quantum mechanics
Pollen diagrams traditionally are read as if pollen percentages were linearly related to relative tree abundances, although the slopes and intercepts of these relationships are accepted to differ among taxa. Corresponding map patterns of modern pollen and tree percentages support this assumption of linearity, which also underlies the use of linear regression on percentage data for pollen‐tree calibration. Fagerlind, however, showed that the theoretical relationship need not be linear and may be confounded by interdependencies among taxa. Regressions and scatter plots of modern pollen and tree percentages are here compared with results of extended R‐value (ERV) models, which correct for the ‘Fagerlind effect’. Three data sets from Wisconsin and Michigan, USA illustrate that regression coefficients provide a first approximation to their ERV equivalents, but scatter plots derived from the ERV analyses show reduced scatter about linearised relationships.