B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 35. 2004 (Budapest, 2004)

Erdei, B.; Bruch, A. A.: A climate analysis of Late Oligocene (Egerian) macrofloras from Hungary

the other datasets. Low minimum value of MAT is attributable to the absence of taxa such as Engelhardia or Zingiberaceae appearing at other localities (in most cases Engelhardia sets the lower limit of coexistence intervals for MAT). However, it should be taken into consideration that Taxodium appears also in intrazonal vegetation types, thus its distribution is influenced by the combination of the zonal climate and edaphic factors. Nevertheless, modern Engelhardia occupies a rather restricted area in Asia, thus it may indicate a more limited climatic spectrum than its fossil representatives required. MAP shows values between 823-1,294 mm (for Eger 1 max. value is 1,613 mm). The seasonal distribution of precipitation has not been predicted from the datasets in this study. HABLY (1988, 1990, 1993, 1994) suggested humid subtropical climate for the Kesztölc, Vértesszőlős, Andornaktálya and Pomáz assemblages based on leaf size spectra and species composition. As it was expected the estimates of the particular climate variables are well in accordance for most datasets. This is attributable to the consistent floral composition of the localities. An exception is given by the Eger 1 dataset displaying broader limits of values for the particular climate variables. The most probable explanation to the divergent climate values is the low number of taxa relevant to the climate analysis, i.e. 8 taxa could be involved in the estimation. The wide coexistence intervals for MAT, CMT and WMT are also attributed to the high number of higher level taxa (e.g. Fagaceae) and Sassafras setting both the minimum and maximum values for all three variables. The application of a dataset without Sassafras, however, would result even wider limits of values. In this case the low number of appropriate taxa leads to even less informative estimates and may call in doubt the applicability of the CA to the Eger 1 dataset. This confirms the requirement of a minimum of generally 12 NLR taxa for the application of the CA. Nevertheless, most localities are characterised by a relatively low number of (often higher level) taxa appropriate for climate analysis which may imply methTable 4. Results of climate estimates based on coeval palyno-floras from the Eastern Alps (after Bruch 1998). (MAT = mean annual temperature, CMT = temperature of the coldest month, WMT = temperature of the warmest month, MAP = mean ann ual precipitation). Stratigraphy Number MAT CMT WMT MAP of taxa (°C) (°C) (°C) (mm) Eger-Wind/ Egerian 16 14.4-17.1 3.7-9.2 25.6-26.8 1,122-1,298 pollen Treubach 1 Chattian 22 15.7-17.1 6.2-6.6 25.6-26.8 1,162-1,298 Como NP25 18 11.6-17.1 1.7-7.5 22.8-26.8 1,122-1,322 Govce Egerian/Eggen12 12.5-17.1 -0.1-7.5 22.3-26.8 897-1,298 burgian