Representation of the Hyrcanian forest (northern Iran) in modern pollen rain revealed by palynological and DNA-metabarcoding data

We studied the modern pollen rain in two different landscapes from Hyrcanian lowland forests up to slopes of Alborz Mountains Gilan province for first time. Pollen traps were installed one year and moss samples collected along altitudinal transects 100 1800 m 2300 elevations. The results counting environmental DNA barcoding (metabarcoding) compared 32 locations. In total, 81 vascular plant species 36 families identified by metabarcoding, 68 taxa belonging 39 counting. reflect mainly wind-pollinated families, such as Betulaceae Fagaceae while metabarcoding rbcL ITS2 loci more line with vegetation around samples. Furthermore, this study showed that region is able identify than region, applying both markers provides higher confidence. Also using data a better local regional representation.