Abstract

Several paleoecological studies over the last decade examining plant microfossils in Late Quaternary wetland sediment cores and dryland soil samples from multiple sites on Rapa Nui found three distinct spore forms, comparable to the class Anthocerotopsida. To our knowledge, hornwort spores have not been noted specifically as such in previous or to date subsequent, published paleoecological Rapa Nui studies. As the spore descriptions in the studies were brief, without images, and reported in several separate articles, here we provide detailed descriptions and photomicrography of the spores, and comment on their distribution and dating in the sampled substrates and suggest botanical affinities. We identify two native Rapa Nui hornwort taxa, with possibly localised distributions, and another, possibly introduced taxon with widespread Rapa Nui distribution. All three taxa are associated with major landscape disturbance by people. As we cannot find any other descriptive studies of hornwort spores from east of and including French Polynesia, this study provides a platform for subsequent similar research in the region.

摘要

在过去十年中，对拉帕努伊多个地点的晚第四纪湿地沉积物岩心和旱地土壤样本中的植物微化石进行的几项古生态学研究发现了三种不同的孢子形式，与 Anthocerotopsida 类相当。据我们所知，在之前或迄今为止，已发表的古生态拉帕努伊研究中并未特别注意到金鱼草孢子。由于研究中的孢子描述很简短，没有图像，并且在几篇单独的文章中进行了报道，因此我们在此提供孢子的详细描述和显微照片，并评论它们在采样基质中的分布和年代，并提出植物亲和力。我们确定了两个原生的 Rapa Nui hornwort 分类群，可能具有局部分布，另一个，可能引入了具有广泛 Rapa Nui 分布的分类单元。所有三个分类群都与人们对景观的主要干扰有关。由于我们在法属波利尼西亚东部（包括法属波利尼西亚）找不到任何其他关于金鱼草孢子的描述性研究，这项研究为该地区后续的类似研究提供了一个平台。