INTRODUCTION

Palynology (pollen analysis) is concerned with seed-bearing plants (Phanerograms) which produce pollen in the male gamete (anther), or with spores which are a sexual reproductive cells of Cryptogram plants. Primarily, it is the study of fossil pollen grain and spore assemblages, which have been isolated from their sedimented deposit in the recent past or as far back as the Palaeozoic era. Pollen analysis is the most widely adopted and perhaps the most successful technique used in the reconstruction of terrestrial palaeoenvironments, especially for the Quaternary (Lowe & Walker, 1984).

The identification of pollen and spores enables a picture of the past vegetational history to be made through time. Pollen and spores are normally preserved in three major site types: lakes, peats and soils. The reconstruction of former vegetation by means of pollen analysis provides a picture of past landscape and environment (Faegri & Iverson, 1989; Moore et al., 1991). In many cases, changes in the vegetation of an area may lead to strong inferences about the former climate of an area. However, not all changes in vegetation are necessarily due to change in climate. For example, fire, insect infestation, disease, plant successional changes, human interference and factors leading to the accumulation and preservation of the material often make the interpretation of the pollen and spore record complex (Bradley, 1985).