Detecting woodland remnants in cultural landscapes: modern pollen deposition around small woodlands in northwest Scotland

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Abstract
Modern pollen deposition in and around woodland fragments in a largely open cultural landscape in northwest Scotland is investigated using moss polsters and surface sediment samples from small lakes. The percentage of local arboreal (tree and shrub) pollen types declines rapidly with distance from the woodland edge, generally reaching background levels in less than 100 m. Even at the woodland edge or under the canopy, some samples contain less than 30% local arboreal pollen. The relationship between percentage of local arboreal pollen and distance from the woodland edge does not vary with changing topographic relationship between sample location and the woodland edge, but does differ according to the vegetation community outside the woodland. Comparison of pollen assemblages from 11 small lake basins (mean size 1.0 hectare) with assemblages from moss polsters collected near the lake edge suggests that the pollen source area for arboreal pollen types is in the order of 300 m for peat samples and over 400 m for lake sediments. Implications for interpretation of palaeorecords are considered.