The photo above shows a layer of pollen covering a small pond in Disney World, Orlando, Florida. In sunny central and southern Florida, tree pollen is in the air in mid February to about mid March -- much of the pollen this time of year is pine and sweet gum. When it settles to the bottom of this watery environment, it will form a distinct veneer that, when sampled in years to come, will give paleoclimatologists knowledge of what the climate may have been like in this particular area. Similarly, by obtaining deeper cores of this pond's sediment, it can be ascertained what the conditions were like here hundreds or thousands of years ago. Analyzing the sampled pollen indicates the type and abundance of vegetation that was prevalent when the pollen layer was deposited. Because the outer wall of a pollen grain is extremely resistant, it is possible to retrieve pollen spores that were laid down millions of years ago. Photo taken on February 19, 2011.
"You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies." James M. Barrie Peter Pan.
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