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Summary The East Anglian Pleistocene succession records eight temperate stages with forest and also interstadials with forest in two of the intervening cold stages. The forest histories of these temperate stages and interstadials are described. The records through the Pleistocene of the tree genera involved are considered. The forest assemblages in each of four substages of the temperate stages (pre-temperate, early-temperate, late-temperate, post-temperate) are compared. The development of heath in the temperate stages is also examined. Floristic and phytogeographic changes indicated by the palaeobotanical evidence give information on Tertiary-relic genera and on extinctions, and have a bearing on the problem of the history of cold stage refugia. The success or failure of particular genera in response to the stress of climatic change is discussed. Finally, comparisons are made with Pleistocene forest history in north-west Europe.

SUMMARY The relation between pollen deposition and phytosociology of 11 plant communities on the island of Ceann Ear, Monach Isles, has been studied. The relation of the phytosociology (frequency, Domin rating) of each community to the pollen analysis of a sample within it is described and the recognition of each community by its pollen spectrum is discussed. The representation of each pollen taxon in the pollen analyses in relation to the flora is tabulated, resulting in a classification of types of representation, from widespread to local to absent. The minimum percentage of pollen of off-island taxa is low (16%), over half being longdistance transport of Betula and Pinus. The frequency of off-island pollen is considered in relation to the frequency of community and out-community pollen, and various features of a plant community are suggested as possible factors in determining the relationship: height of vegetation, exposure, rate of local pollen deposition and the nature of the material trapping pollen. The significance of the results for the interpretation of fossil pollen spectra with high non-tree pollen frequencies (cold stages, post-Mesolithic clearances) is considered in relation to the reflection of a mosaic of plant communities and of regional plant communities in the pollen rain, to long-distance pollen transport and to grazing.

SUMMARY A pollen diagram from the pre-Pleistocene marine sediments near Orford, Suffolk, shows the presence of a forest flora, mainly coniferous, with a number of exotic genera of Eastern Asian/North American affinity, including Sequoia-type, Sciadopitys and Taxodium-type. It is suggested that this pollen assemblage may be Brunssumian (Lower Pliocene) in age.

SummaryPollen analyses have been made from sediments associated with vertebrate remains, including Arvicola cantiana, collected early in the 19th century from Ostend, Norfolk. They indicate that the fauna is of Cromerian zone IV date. Comparison with other pollen-dated Cromerian faunas implies that the early water vole Mimomys savini was replaced by the more advanced A. cantianaduring the second half of the Cromerian temperate stage. This is important in setting possible age limits to the faunas of such sites as Westbury, Mauer and Vérteszöllös.

Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Ecological background 3. Pollen analysis 4. Bog oaks and buried forests 5. Flandrian deposits and the Fenland Research Committee 6. Shippea Hill and the natural bed of the River Little Ouse 7. The Lower Peat and the Fen Clay 8. The Upper Peat: hoards and trackways 9. Iron Age hiatus, roddons and Romans 10. Extinct meres and shell-marl 11. Conspectus and historical framework 12. Peat and its winning 13. The loss of the peat: shrinkage and wastage 14. Fenland drainage 15. Ancient crops, natural and cultivated 16. Lost and vanishing species: conservation References Index.