The paleobotanical collections
The paleobotanical collections comprise plant material that gives information about the vegetation of the past. The collections consist mainly of sediment cores from water, peat marshes and soil samples from archaeological excavations.
Hovedinnhold
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Many thousand sediment samples are stored in the collections and are accessible for research purposes. The samples contain recognisable plant material like pollen and macroscopic plant remains (seeds, twigs, leaves, mosses etc). By analysing these plant remains we retrieve information about vegetation in different time periods and as a result, knowledge about the climate and human activity in the past. Pollen analysis is the most important method available today to reconstruct vegetation history.
Where does the sample material come from?
The material has been collected by botanists at Bergen Museum or the Department of Biology in connection with research projects or management examinations.