Vegetation Studies and Modern Pollen Spectra from the Red Lake Peatland, Northern Minnesota

Vegetation studies in the Red Lake peatland, a patterned fen studded with forested islands, resulted in the recognition and description of plant communities typical of the following environments: Menyanthes pools, furrows, sedge—strings, forested tussocks, and forest hollows. Pollen analyses of 15 surface samples taken along a transect in the same area separated two distinct local pollen assemblages. The Larix forest assemblage corresponds to the forest tussock and forest hollow communities, and the sedge fen pollen assemblage corresponds to the Menyanthes pool, the furrow, and the sedge—string communities.