There are few absolutes in biology. Everything is probabilistic whether it concerns human health, the composition of the flora in a rich pasture, the animal and plant species found in any pond, or the growth pattern of daisies in the lawn. The identity and quantity of the various kinds of pollen and spores found in a sample depends on a great many variables, which we call ‘taphonomic factors’. I define palynological taphonomy as ‘all the factors that determine whether a palynomorph will be found in a specific place at a specific time’.
