Atlas of the tropical West African pollen flora

Abstract

The accurate and consistent identification of fossil pollen is essential to allow robust inferences to be drawn with regard to past climate and vegetation change. Identifications are best achieved through the direct inspection of reference material. Most substantial reference collections are held at prestigious universities in Europe or the United States of America which can restrict access for researchers trying to advance palynology in less developed countries. Digital imaging and fast spreading access to the internet means that it is now possible to produce and disseminate high quality images from pollen reference collections. In this paper we contribute to this growing body of work by presenting images of 364 pollen taxa from West Tropical Africa both as printed plates with a key, and within an associated online searchable database.