The taxonomic resolution of palynological identification is determined by morphological criteria that are used to define pollen types. Different levels of taxonomic resolution are reached in palynology, depending on several factors such as the analyst’s expertise, the palynological school, the aim of the study, the preservation of the pollen grains, the reference collections and the microscope facilities. Previous research has suggested that attaining pollen records with high taxonomic resolution is important to reconstruct correctly past land use and human impact. This is in turn central to disentangling past human activities from other drivers of long-term vegetation dynamics such as natural disturbance or climate variability. In this study, we assess the impact of taxonomic resolution on the indicative capacity of anthropogenic pollen types. To achieve this, we attribute the pollen types of sixteen sedimentary records, located along a latitudinal gradient spanning from Switzerland to Italy, to three levels of taxonomic resolution previously proposed at the European scale. Our results show that higher taxonomic resolution improves the identification of human impact by enhancing the indicative power of important pollen indicators widely used in the research field. Our results may contribute to the improvement of palynological reconstructions of land use and human impact by identifying key pollen types whose determination requires particular attention.

孢粉鉴定的分类学分辨率由用于定义花粉类型的形态学标准确定。孢粉学达到不同水平的分类分辨率，这取决于分析员的专业知识、孢粉学派、研究目的、花粉粒的保存、参考集合和显微镜设施等几个因素。先前的研究表明，获得具有高分类分辨率的花粉记录对于正确重建过去的土地利用和人类影响非常重要。反过来，这对于将过去的人类活动与长期植被动态的其他驱动因素（如自然干扰或气候变化）分开至关重要。在这项研究中，我们评估了分类分辨率对人为花粉类型指示能力的影响。为了实现这一点，我们将位于从瑞士到意大利的纬度梯度上的 16 种沉积记录的花粉类型归因于先前在欧洲范围内提出的三个分类分辨率水平。我们的研究结果表明，更高的分类分辨率通过增强广泛用于研究领域的重要花粉指标的指示能力来改进对人类影响的识别。我们的研究结果可能有助于通过确定需要特别注意的关键花粉类型来改善土地利用和人类影响的孢粉重建。我们的研究结果表明，更高的分类分辨率通过增强广泛用于研究领域的重要花粉指标的指示能力来改进对人类影响的识别。我们的研究结果可能有助于通过确定需要特别注意的关键花粉类型来改善土地利用和人类影响的孢粉重建。我们的研究结果表明，更高的分类分辨率通过增强广泛用于研究领域的重要花粉指标的指示能力来改进对人类影响的识别。我们的研究结果可能有助于通过确定需要特别注意的关键花粉类型来改善土地利用和人类影响的孢粉重建。