High-resolution analysis of ombrogenous peats often reveals pollen frequencies that change markedly from one sample to the next, indicating limited postdepositional mixing. This raises the question whether — with sufficiently thin samples — seasonal differences in pollen deposition can be observed. Seasonal resolution in peat would provide a dating technique with an accuracy similar to that of other, annually banded archives. To study the limits of temporal resolution, contiguous 0.5 mm thick slices of slightly humified Sphagnum section Cuspidata peat were palynologically analysed. No seasonal patterns in the pollen stratigraphy could be observed. This is ascribed to the mixing of pollen grains as a result of small-scaled vertical water movements and to the horizontal mode of shoot layering in the Sphagnum species. The latter process may also be the cause of a smoothed annual signal. Because of the absence of seasonal differentiation, the palynological distinction of annual peat layers is not feasible.
Aaby, B. and Tauber, H.1974: Rates of peat accumulation in relation to degree of humification and local environment, as shown by studies of a raised bog in Denmark. Boreas4, 1—17.
2.
Barber, K.E.1981: Peat stratigraphy and climatic change. A palaeoecological test of the theory of cyclic bog regeneration. Balkema .
3.
Beug, H.-J.2004: Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung für Mitteleuropa und angrenzende Gebiete. Verlag Dr Friedrich Pfeil.
4.
Boatman, D.J.1977: Observations on the growth of Sphagnum cuspidatum in a bog pool in the Silver Flowe National Nature Reserve. Journal of Ecology65, 119—26.
5.
Bos, J.A.A. and Janssen, C.R.1996: Local impact of palaeolithic man on the environment during the end of the last glacial in the Netherlands. Journal of Archaeological Science23, 731—39.
6.
Brock, T.C.M. and Bregman, R.1989: Periodicity in growth, productivity, nutrient content and decomposition of Sphagnum recurvum var. mucronatum in a fen woodland. Oecologia80, 44—52.
7.
Charman, D.J. and Garnett, M.H.2005: Chronologies for recent peat deposits using wiggle-matched radiocarbon ages: Problems with old carbon contamination. Radiocarbon47, 135—45.
8.
Charman, D.J., Brown, A.D., Hendon, D. and Karofeld, E.2004: Testing the relationship between Holocene peatland palaeoclimate reconstructions and instrumental data at two European sites . Quaternary Science Reviews23, 137—43.
9.
Clark, R.L.1986: Pollen as a chronometer and sediment tracer, Burrinjuck Reservoir, Australia. Hydrobiologia143, 63—69.
10.
Clymo, R.S.1973: The growth of Sphagnum: some effects of environment . Journal of Ecology61, 849—69.
11.
Clymo, R.S. and Hayward, P.M.1982: The ecology of Sphagnum. In Smith, A.J.E., editor, Bryophyte ecology. Chapman & Hall, 229—89.
12.
Clymo, R.S. and Mackay, D.1987: Upwash and downwash of pollen and spores in the unsaturated surface layer of Sphagnum-dominated peat. New Phytologist105, 175—83.
13.
Couwenberg, J. and Joosten, H.2005: Self organisation in raised bog patterning: the origin of microtope zonation and mesotope diversity. Journal of Ecology93, 1238—48.
14.
Couwenberg, J., De Klerk, P., Endtmann, E., Joosten, H. and Michaelis, D.2001: Hydrogenetische Moortypen in der Zeit — eine Zusammenschau . In Succow, M. and Joosten, H., editors, Landschaftsökologische Moorkunde 2nd edition. Schweizerbart, 399—403.
15.
Davidson, D.A., Carter, S., Boag, B., Long, D., Tipping, R. and Tyler, A.1999: Analysis of pollen in soils: processes of incorporation and redistribution of pollen in five soil profiles. Soil Biology and Biochemistry31, 643—53.
16.
Davis, M.B.1968: Pollen grains in lake sediments: redeposition caused by seasonal water circulation. Science162, 796—99.
17.
—— 1973: Redeposition of pollen grains in lake sediment . Limnology and Oceanography18, 44—52.
18.
Davis, M.B., Moeller, R.E. and Ford, J.1984: Sediment focusing and pollen influx. In Haworth, E.Y. and Lund, J.W.G., editors, Lake sediments and environmental history . University of Leicester Press, 261—93.
19.
De Klerk, P., Couwenberg, J. and Joosten, H.2007: Short-lived vegetational and environmental change during the Preboreal in the Biebrza upper basin (NE Poland). Quaternary Science Reviews in press.
20.
Dodson, J.R., Mitchell, F.J.G., Bögeholz, H. and Julian, N.1998: Dynamics of temperate rainforest from fine resolution pollen analysis, Upper Ringarooma River, northeastern Tasmania. Australian Journal of Ecology23, 550—61.
21.
Driessen, M.N.B.M., Derksen, J.W.M., Spieksma, T.T.M. and Roetman, E.1988: Pollenatlas van de Nederlandse atmosfeer. Onkenhout.
22.
Erdtman, G.1943: An introduction to pollen analysis. Waltham.
23.
Erdtman, O.G.E.1921: Pollenanalytische Untersuchungen von Torfmooren und marinen Sedimenten in Südwest-Schweden. Arkiv för Botanik17, 1—173.
24.
Faegri, K. and Iversen, J.1975: Textbook of pollen analysis (third edition). Munksgaard.
25.
——— 1989: Textbook of pollen analysis. Revised by Fægri, K., Kaland, P.E. and Krzywinski, K.John Wiley and Sons.
26.
Florschütz, F.1942: Wordingswijze en botanische samenstelling van eenige Nederlandsche veensoorten. In Het veen en zijn ontginning. Nederlandsche Heidemaatschappij, 11—21.
27.
Fuller, J.L.1997: Holocene forest dynamics in southern Ontario, Canada: fine-resolution pollen data. Canadian Journal of Botany75, 1714—27.
28.
Garbett, G.C.1981: The elm decline: the depletion of a resource. New Phytologist88, 573—78.
29.
Gaudig, G.2000: Vergleich intensive Torfmoos-Torf akkumulierender Systeme mittels Pollen- und Großrestanalyse. MSc-thesis, University of Greifswald.
30.
Geyh, M.A. and Morgenthal, G.1970: A fast separation technique of humic acids from peat to be dated by the oxidation method. International Journal Applied Radiation Isotopes21, 566.
31.
Godwin, H. and Willis, E.H.1959: Radiocarbon dating of prehistoric wooden trackways . Nature189, 490.
32.
Goh, K.M.1978: Removal of contaminants to improve the reliability of radiocarbon dates of peats. Journal of Soil Science29, 340—49.
33.
Goslar, T., Van der Knaap, W.O., Hicks, S., Andrič, M., Czernik, J., Goslar, E., Räsänen, S. and Hyötylä, H.2005: Radiocarbon dating of modern peat profiles: pre- and post-bomb 14C variations in the construction of age—depth models . Radiocarbon47, 115—34.
34.
Göttlich, K., editor 1990: Moor- und Torfkunde3rd edition. Schweizerbart .
35.
Green, D.G.1983: The ecological interpretation of fine resolution pollen records. New Phytologist94, 459—77.
36.
Green, D. and Dolman, G.S.J.1988: Fine resolution pollen analysis. Journal of Biogeography15, 685—701.
37.
Green, D., Singh, G., Polach, H., Moss, D., Banks, J. and Geissler, E.A.1988: A fine-resolution palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology from southeastern Australia. Journal of Ecology76, 790—806.
38.
Grosvernier, P., Matthey, Y. and Buttler, A.1997: Growth potential of three Sphagnum species in relation to water table and peat properties with implications for their restoration in cut-over bogs. Journal of Ecology34, 471—83.
39.
Hayward, P.M. and Clymo, R.S.1983: The growth of Sphagnum: experiments on, and simulation of, some effects of light flux and water-table depth. Journal of Ecology71, 845—63.
40.
Heukels, H. and Van der Meijden, R.1983: Flora van Nederland, 20th edition. Wolters-Noordhoff.
41.
Hicks, S.1994: Present and past pollen records of Lapland forests . Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology82, 17—35.
42.
Hicks, S. and Hyvärinen, H.1999: Pollen influx values measured in different sedimentary environments and their palaeoecological implications. Grana38, 228—42.
43.
Hölzer, A. and Hölzer, A.1995: Zur Vegetationsgeschichte des Hornisgrinde-Gebietes im Nordschwarzwald: Pollen, Grossreste und Geochemie. Carolinea53, 199—228.
44.
Irwin, T.E.1989: Pollen percentage, concentration and influx to a mire hummock and hollow. Pollen et Spores31, 317—28.
45.
Ivanov, K.E.1981: Water movement in mirelands. Academic Press. Jäger, S., Spieksma , F.T.M. and Nolard, N.1991: Fluctuations and trends in airborne concentrations of some abundant pollen types, monitored at Vienna, Leiden, and Brussels. Grana30, 309—12.
46.
Janssen, C.R.1973: Local and regional pollen deposition. In Birks, H.J.B. and West, R.G. , editors, Quaternary plant ecology. 14th Symposium of theBritish Ecological Society. Blackwell , 31—42.
47.
Joosten, J.H.J.1985: A 130 year micro- and macrofossil record from regeneration peat in former peasant peat pits in the Peel, The Netherlands: a palaeoecological study with agricultural and climatological implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology49, 277—312.
48.
——— 1995: Time to regenerate: long-term perspectives of raised bog regeneration with special emphasis on palaeoecological studies. In Wheeler, B., Shaw, S., Fojt, W. and Robertson A. , editors, Restoration of temperate wetlands. Wiley, 379—404.
49.
Joosten, H. and De Klerk, P.2007: DAMOCLES: a DAshing MOnolith Cutter for fine sectioning of peats and sediments into LargE Slices. Boreas36, 76—81.
50.
Kelso, G.K.1994: Pollen percolation rates in Euroamerican-era cultural deposits in the Northeastern United States. Journal of Archaeological Science21, 481—88.
51.
Kilian, M.R., Van der Plicht, J. and Van Geel, B.1995: Dating raised bogs: new aspects of AMS 14C wiggle matching, a reservoir effect and climatic change. Quaternary Science Reviews14, 959—66.
52.
Kilian, M.R., Van Geel, B. and Van der Plicht, J.2000: 14C AMS wiggle matching of raised bog deposits and models of peat accumulation. Quaternary Science Reviews19, 1011—33.
53.
Kuhry, P.1985: Transgression of a raised bog across a coversand ridge originally covered with an oak-lime forest. Palaeoecological study of a Middle Holocene local vegetational succession in the Amtsven (northwest Germany) . Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology44, 303—53.
54.
Malmström, C.1923: Degerö Stormyr. En botanisk, hydrologisk och utvecklingshistorisk undersökning over ett nordsvenskt myrkomplex. Meddelanden från Statens Skogförsöksanstalt20, 1—206.
55.
Middeldorp, A.A.1982: Pollen concentration as a basis for indirect dating and quantifying net organic and fungal production in a peat bog ecosystem . Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology37, 227—82.
56.
——— 1984: Functional palaeoecology of raised bogs — an analysis by means of pollen density dating, in connection with the regional forest history. PhD Thesis, University of Amsterdam.
57.
Moore, P.D.1989: Finer grains of truth. Nature337, 412.
58.
Moore, P.D. and Chater, E.H.1969: The changing vegetation of west-central Wales in the light of human history. Journal of Ecology57, 361—79.
59.
Moore, P.D., Webb, J.A. and Collinson, M.E.1991: Pollen analysis. Blackwell.
60.
Mörnsjö, T.1969: Studies on vegetation and development of a peatland in Scania, South Sweden. Opera Botanica24, 1—187.
Overbeck, F. and Happach, H.1957: Über das Wachstum und den Wasserhaushalt einiger Hochmoorsphagnen . Flora144, 335—402.
63.
Panov, V.V.1991: K voprosu ob organizacii bolotnych morfosistem na osnove stereofotogrammetriceskogo metoda nabljudenij. In Boc, M., editor, Bolota ochranjaemych territorija: problemy ochrany i monitoringa. Tezisy dokladov XI Bsesojoeznogo polevogo seminaraekskursii po bolotovedenijoe. 100—103.
64.
Pedersen, A.1975: Growth measurements of five Sphagnum species in South Norway. Norwegian Journal of Botany22, 277—84.
65.
Peglar, S.M.1993: The mid-Holocene Ulmus decline at Diss Mere, Norfolk, UK: a year-by-year pollen stratigraphy from annual laminations. The Holocene3, 1—13.
66.
Peglar, S.M., Fritz, S.C., Alapieti, T., Saarnisto, M. and Birks, H.J.B.1984: Composition and formation of laminated sediments in Diss Mere, Norfolk, England. Boreas13, 13—28.
67.
Polach, H. and Singh, G.1980: Contemporary 14C levels and their significance to sedimentary history of Bega Swamp, New South Wales. Radiocarbon22, 398—409.
68.
Punt, W. and Blackmore, S. , editors 1988: The northwest European pollen flora V. Elsevier.
69.
Rial, J., Pielke, R.A., Sr., Beniston, M., Claussen, M., Canadell, J., Cox, P., Held, H., De Noblet-Ducoudre, N., Prinn, R., Reynolds, J. and Salas, J.D.2004: Nonlinearities, feedbacks and critical thresholds within the Earth's climate system. Climatic Change65, 11—38.
70.
Rietkerk, M., Dekker, S.C., De Ruiter, P.C. and Van de Koppel, J.2004: Self-organized patchiness and catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. Science305, 1926—29.
71.
Rowley, J.R. and Rowley, J.1956: Vertical migration of spherical and aspherical pollen in a Sphagnum bog. Proceedings of the Minnesota Academy of Sciences24, 29—30.
72.
Russell, E.W.B.1993: Early stages of secondary succession recorded in soil pollen on the North Carolina piedmont. American Midland Naturalist129, 384—96.
73.
Rydin, H. and McDonald, A.J.S.1985: Tolerance of Sphagnum to water level. Journal of Bryology13, 571—78.
74.
Simmons, I.G., Turner, J. and Innes, J.B.1989. An application of fine-resolution pollen analysis to the later Mesolithic peats of an English upland. In Bonsall, C., editor, The Mesolithic in Europe . John Donald Publishers, 206—16.
75.
Simola, H.1977: Diatom succession in the formation of annually laminated sediment in Lovojärvi, a small eutrophicated lake. Annales Botanicae Fennici14, 143—48.
76.
——— 1979: Micro-stratigraphy of sediment laminations deposited in a chemically stratifying eutrophic lake during the years 1913—1976 . Holarctic Ecology2, 160—68.
77.
Smith, A.G. and Goddard, I.C.1991: A 12 500 year record of the vegetational history of Sluggan Bog, Co. Antrim, N. Ireland (incorporating a pollen zone scheme for the non-specialist) . New Phytologist118, 167—87.
78.
Speranza, A., Van der Plicht, J. and Van Geel, B.2000: Improving the time control of the Subboreal/Subatlantic transition in a Czech peat sequence by 14C wiggle-matching. Quaternary Science Reviews19, 1589—604.
79.
Stewart, J.M. and Durno, S.E.1969: Structural variations in peat. New Phytologist69, 875—83.
80.
Stockmarr, J.1971: Tablets with spores used in absolute pollen analysis . Pollen et Spores13, 615—21.
81.
Sturludottir, S.R. and Turner, J.1985: The elm decline at Pawlaw mire: an anthropogenic interpretation . New Phytologist99, 323—29.
82.
Telford, R.J., Heegaard, E. and Birks, H.J.B.2004: All age—depth models are wrong: but how badly?Quaternary Science Reviews23, 1—5.
83.
Tippett, R.1964: An investigation into the nature of the layering of deep-water sediments in two eastern Ontario lakes. Canadian Journal of Botany42, 1693—709.
84.
Turner, J.1964: The anthropogenic factor in vegetational history. I. Tregaron and Whixall mosses. New Phytologist63, 73—90.
85.
Turner, J. and Peglar, S.M.1988: Temporally-precise studies of vegetation history . In Huntley, B. and Webb, T., Iii, editors, Vegetation history. Kluwer Academic Publishers , 753—77.
86.
Van der Knaap, W.O., Van Leeuwen, J.F.N., Fankhauser, A. and Ammann, B.2000: Palynostratigraphy of the last centuries in Switzerland based on 23 lake and mire deposits: chronostratigraphic pollen markers, regional patterns, and local histories. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology108, 85—142.
87.
Van der Molen, P.C. and Hoekstra, S.P.1988: A palaeoecological study of a hummock-hollow complex from Engbertsdijksveen, in The Netherlands. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology55, 213—74.
88.
Van Geel, B.1972: Palynology of a section of the raised peat bog `Wietmarscher Moor', with special reference to fungal remains. Acta Botanica Neerlandica21, 261—84.
89.
Van Geel, B.1978: A palaeoecological study of Holocene peat bog sections in Germany and The Netherlands, based on the analysis of pollen, spores and macro- and microscopic remains of Fungi, Algae, Cormophytes and Animals. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology25, 1—120.
90.
Van Geel, B. and Middeldorp, A.1988: Vegetational history of Carbury bog (Co Kildare, Ireland) during the last 850 years and a test of the temperature indicator value of 2H/1H measurements of peat samples in relation to historical sources and meteorological data. New Phytologist109, 377—92.
91.
Van Geel, B., Bohncke, S.J.P. and Dee, H.1981: A palaeoecological study of an upper Late Glacial and Holocene sequence from `De Borchert', The Netherlands. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology31, 367—448.
92.
Van Noorden, B.1987: Paleo-ecologisch onderzoek aan regeneratieveen in de Heidse Peel. MSc-thesis, University of Utrecht.
93.
Walch, K.M., Rowley, J.R. and Norton, N.J.1970: Displacement of pollen grains by earthworms. Pollen et Spores12, 39—44.
94.
Walker, D.1970: Direction and rate in some British post-glacial hydroseres . In Walker, D. and West, R.G., editors, Studies in the vegetational history of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 117—39.
95.
Welten, M.1944: Pollenanalytische, stratigraphische und geochronologische Untersuchungen aus dem Faulenseemoos bei Spiez. Veröffentlichungen des Geobotanischen Institutes Rübel in Zürich21, 1—201.
96.
Yeloff, D., Bennett, K.D., Blaauw, M., Mauquoy, D., Sillasoo, Ü., Van der Plicht, J. and Van Geel, B.2006: High precision C-14 dating of Holocene peat deposits: a comparison of Bayesian calibration and wiggle-matching approaches. Quaternary Geochronology1, 222—35.
