This study assesses the feasibility of using pollen preserved in lowland lakes in East Java to elucidate past human- and climate-induced changes in vegetation. Lowland tropical lakes have largely been avoided for palynological studies because little is known about the relationships among climate, surrounding vegetation and pollen transport and deposition in such lakes. East Java provides an unusual opportunity to collect such information because a moisture gradient currently extends across the island. The modern pollen rain in lakes along this gradient should reflect the resulting regional differences in lowland vegetation.