In the field of botany there is a discipline known as palynology, which has the mission of investigating everything related to pollen, spores or any other fossil or current palynomorph. Palynology also belongs to micropaleontology as it analyzes organic microfossils. His studies are focused on the way it is organized, the structure and propagation of pollen and spores, including fossil remains.
Pollen grains are very simple elements to preserve in environments, where oxygen is insufficient, since being very strong, they retain their external characteristics during fossilization. Because of this, his study has made it possible to solve a myriad of problems that research on plant fossils has not yet solved.
Currently, palynological studies have contributed to a better analysis of plants, as well as being able to predict crops, study the origin of biological pollutants and all kinds of agronomic research.
Palynology is a relatively new term, it was first introduced by researchers Hyde & Williams in 1945.
To date, palynology has undergone a great evolution, so much so that today it encompasses certain scientific areas such as:
- Geopalynology, which is in charge of analyzing pollen grains and spores located in sediments, regardless of whether they are in a fossil state.
- Aeropalynology is responsible for studying all the pollen grains and spores that are scattered in the atmosphere, associated or not with allergies that humans present.
- Melisopalynology is responsible for the analysis of the pollen grains found in the honey samples.
- The Copro Palinology, this branch is in charge of the analysis of the pollen grains that are found in the feces of animals and humans.
- Pharmaco Palinology studies the use of pollen grains and spores in the preparation of medicines and in the creation of vaccines.
However, one of the palynology specialties that is most closely related to plant taxonomy is Palino Taxonomy. This specialty is responsible for studying plant taxonomy through pollen properties.
As has been observed, from its beginnings to the present, palynology has been consolidating itself as a science with its own personality, it is a science that has a great variety of links with other scientific disciplines, which it serves as support and from which it also receives all the information necessary for its investigations.
