Pollen dataset from bat guano deposits in southeastern Amazonia
Description
This dataset provides the raw pollen counts from the 25 bat guano samples. Five caves in the Carajás region, located in southeastern Amazonia, were sampled. For pollen analysis, roughly 1 cm3 of bat guano was used for each sample. One tablet of Lycopodium spores containing 20,848 grains was introduced to each sample to aid in the estimation of pollen concentration (grains/cm3) using the formula: Pc * Li / Lc * V. Where Pc represents the amount of fossil pollen counted, Li represents the number of Lycopodium spores introduced (20,848), Lc represents the number of Lycopodium spores counted, and V represents the sample volume. Approximately 300 pollen and spore grains were counted for each sample using a Light Microscope equipped with an Axiocam 208 color (Zeiss Axiolab 5) with ZEN Blue 2021 imaging software to photograph pollen grains at 1000x magnification. TILIA (v.2.6.1) was used to create cluster analysis dendrograms and to plot pollen diagrams.
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Steps to reproduce
A total of 25 samples were processed for pollen analysis in this study. The 1 cm3 samples were processed by using a simplified procedure adapted from Basumatary and Bera (2014). In this step-by-step optimal sample processing methodology for pollen analysis (Reis et al., 2023a), the bat guano was treated twice with 5% hot KOH for 3 min, rinsed until the supernatant was clear, and then treated with acetolysis. Samples were rinsed with absolute alcohol after the chemical treatment. The residues were concentrated, dehydrated, and placed in glycerin (C3H5(OH)3) for storage. One tablet of Lycopodium clavatum L. (Stock- marr, 1971) was added as an exotic marker for accessing absolute pollen concentrations and the intensity of the chemical treatment. Pollen and spore count and identifications were carried out using a transmitted light optical microscope (Zeiss Axiolab 5, Axiocam 208 color) at magnifications of 400x and 1000x, respectively.
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Funding
TCCE ICMBio-Vale
N◦01/2018