Pollen dataset from upland lakes in southeastern Amazonia

This dataset contains pollen concentration data obtained from lake sediment cores collected in the Carajás and Araguaia regions, southeastern Amazonia. The research aimed to test the hypothesis that southeastern Amazonia functioned as an ecological corridor during past climatic windows, facilitating floristic and ecological connectivity between currently disjunct forest and savanna domains.
Pollen assemblages were derived from sediment cores extracted using Livingston and Russian Peat Borer corers. Each spreadsheet tab corresponds to a specific lake record, providing quantitative pollen concentration data for all identified taxa. An additional table lists the taxa shared between the two regions through time, allowing comparisons of floristic composition and temporal shifts in vegetation structure.
Chronological control was established based on radiocarbon dating of bulk organic matter and macrophyte remains, integrated into age-depth models for each core. The pollen data were complemented by MixSIAR modeling results, which estimate the proportional contribution of different organic matter sources to lake sediments, providing insights into catchment processes and sedimentary inputs.
Researchers can use this dataset to explore regional vegetation history, biogeographic relationships, and paleoecological processes in tropical South America. Data are suitable for comparative analyses, synthesis studies, and calibration of pollen-based environmental models.
More details on methods, chronology, and interpretations are provided in Reis et al. (2025), Guimarães et al. (2023), and references therein.