Part 1—Explore Plant Response to Climate Change

Step 1 –
Access the Pollen Viewer Applet

  1. Access the Pollen Viewer website to initiate the viewer.
    Pollen viewer home page


     
  2. The Pollen Viewer is a dynamic viewer and as you use it, you must remain connected to the Internet. Note: images may take a few moments to load as you work in the viewer.

Step 2 –
Explore Data Using the Pollen Viewer

  1. By default, the species in the drop-down menu are listed by their Latin names. To display species by their common names, under Selection Nomenclature, select the Common button.
  2. Click the Play button to watch the change in fossil pollen distribution across a 21,000 year time period.
    The fossilized pollen is evidence that the actual trees of that species were present in the highlighted locations at a particular period of time. Notice the change in the coastline as the North American ice sheet melts and the sea level rises.
  3. Use the forward and back arrows to move through the animation manually. While the viewer is running, you can also stop the time series display by clicking the Pause button.

Step 3 –
Select a Plant to Study in Detail

  1. One of the goals of this exploration phase is to pick a plant species to study in detail. There are many species to choose from, so keep the following in mind while exploring the possible choices:
    • the best time series of maps will have at least four colors defining plant abundance
    • view different plant species over time and examine the similarities and differences of their behavior with respect to changing climactic conditions across North America.
  2. After exploring the species in the Pollen Viewer, select a plant species to study in detail.
  3. Record the information from the key. Note: the range of percentages in the keys below the map will vary with plant species.