Lycopodium clavatum tablets are commonly added as a spike to determine dinoflagellate cyst concentrations in Modern and ancient sediments. However, Lycopodium spores are widely distributed globally ranging from boreal temperate biomes to tropics. When analysing sediments near sedimentary sources (river mouths, tidal inlets) or influenced by along shore currents and sediment redistribution, or within a terrestrial environment (lakes, peatland) can the spores from lycopodium spike be confused or mask an in situ lycopodinium assemblage? How do we distinguish spike from signal, particularly in Modern systems where thermal maturity between the in situ assemblage to be counted and spike is the same? What is the recommended approach to quantify terrestrial pollen and spores in palynological assemblages - lycopodium spore tablets or is there something else? Any suggestions most welcome...
Hi James, in our 2009 study (Mertens et al., RPP) we compare also with the volumetric method, which is a viable alternative and is used by some labs, and the accuracy depends on the number of specimens counted. There are also some labs who have used Eucalyptus as a spike. And indeed there are also the microbeads but they are quite transparent and can be difficult to observe.
In areas with high naturally occurring Lycopodium populations I often used Eucalyptus tablets. These were available from the same source in Sweden as the Lycopodium tablets. In Dr. Vaughn Bryants lab at Texas A&M University we kept both on hand as needed. Obviously we would not use Eucalyptus in southern california florida etc.
I hope they are still available.
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