The first plant communities as can be seen from the pollen graphs in this book were impoverished in species. The Permian era started with a very cold climate and as the climate warmed more and more diverse vegetation took hold. The emergence of different forms of pollen at certain times in the Permian is used as an indicator of climatic change. Furthermore, the predominance of algal spores in some samples and lack of representation by pollen of Glossopteris point to significant changes in the climate which led to the disappearance of their pollen and the accumulation of spores representing algal communities. These climate induced changes are noticed in their completed transformation after a long time span; small changes are evident during a lifetime of Earth’s inhabitants. weiterlesen