Quantitative relationship of spore and plant assemblages from the Radnice Basin, Middle Pennsylvanian of the Czech Republic: preliminary results

Abstract

Dispersed miospore and pollen assemblages are described from the Radnice Basin, Middle Pennsylvanian, Czech Republic. Conversion factors (R-values) were produced by comparing the palynological data with quantified macrofloral data, to relate the percentages of spore/pollen taxa to those of the major plant groups that produced them. Among arborescent lycopsids, the miospore and macroplant counts are more or less equal. In other lycopsids miospores are strongly over-represented, as their macroplant remains were relatively fewer than would be suggested by the proportion of their spores in miospore spectra. Sphenophyll and calamitid macroplants were also relatively fewer than are their spores as a proportion of palynological spectra. By contrast, macroplants of ferns and cordaites are relatively more numerous than are their miospores and pollen in palynological spectra.