Abstract

The Proteaceae family is a large Gondwanan plant family with a major centre of richness in south-western Australia. Modern pollen–vegetation relationships in the two areas of species richness in the northern and southern sandplains of south-western Australia were investigated to calibrate fossil-pollen studies concurrently conducted on Eocene, Pliocene and Quaternary sediment. Results indicated that the Proteaceae component in modern pollen rain can be quite high, contributing up to 50% of the count. Some sites showed a dominant type (such as Banksia–Dryandra), whilst others had up to six different genera represented. Exactly how and when the biodiversity of Proteaceae in south-western Australia developed is unknown. This work provides a benchmark for comparisons with studied fossil material to unravel patterns of diversity of this family in south-western Australia.