Pollen-climate response surfaces of selected taxa from Northern China

Pollen-climate response surfaces of major taxa from surface pollen data of Northern China is studied. Response surfaces are nonlinear functions that describe the way in which each taxon’s expected abundance (the response variables) depends on the combined effects of several environmental variables(prediction variables). Response surfaces for 8 major taxa--Pinus, Picea, Betuta, Artemisia, Ephedra,Chenopodiaceae, Asteraceae and Poaceae--from 215 surface pollen samples and related climatic data(mean July temperature and annual precipitation) have been generated by analysis of second- or third-degree polynomial regression. Surface samples were collected from surface soil under natural vegetation of Northern China. The results can be used to re-evaluate the ecological significance of abundances of some taxa by quantifying the paleoclimatic variables from fossil pollen abundances.