Biogeographic, ecological and stratigraphic relationships of the Miocene brown coal floras, Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia

Sluiter, I. R. K.; Kershaw, A. Peter; Holdgate, G. R.; Bulman, D.

doi:10.1016/0166-5162(95)00021-6

Cited by 43 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…These workers reasoned that the past climate could be deduced from the zone of overlap of the 'envelope' for particular climate variables. For example, Sluiter et al (1995) concluded that the Miocene MAT in the Latrobe Valley was around 19°C, 4-5°C warmer than today. Zones of overlap were also found for other climate variables, such as mean annual precipitation, precipitation of the driest month, and precipitation of the wettest month.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate from the Co-existence Approach Kershaw and Nix (1988) used bar graphs to illustrate the climatic ranges of pollen found in a Holocene deposit in North Queensland, and then Sluiter et al (1995) used the same techniques for the extant relatives of fossils found in the Miocene Latrobe Valley coal measures in Victoria. These workers reasoned that the past climate could be deduced from the zone of overlap of the 'envelope' for particular climate variables.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Miocene climate in New Zealand: Estimates from paleobotanical data

Pole¹

2014

Palaeontologia Electronica

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Miocene New Zealand was a small, highly oceanic landmass which makes it ideal for recording terrestrial climate, free of the complications of a continental setting. Fortunately, it has a good Miocene fossil record, both marine and terrestrial. This paper reviews past conclusions about Miocene climate then attempts to derive some key climate indices for the period using a variety of plant fossil proxies. The paper looks at three slices of Miocene time -a broad early to earliest middle Miocene time, a restricted period in the middle Miocene, and broader middle-late Miocene. The results suggest early to earliest middle Miocene Mean Annual Temperatures (MATs) reached at least 17-18°C, thus, about 6-7°C warmer than today (coastal areas of southern New Zealand today have a MAT of about 11°C). At times Miocene MAT may have reached 19-20°C. These figures support the cooler estimates of New Zealand Miocene climate that have been made previously by using palebotanical proxies, rather than those based on marine invertebrates. Based on plant fossils there is no evidence that New Zealand ever reached truly 'tropical' (i.e., megathermal) conditions (> 24-25°C). The climate in the middle Miocene is confounded by signs of precipitation and temperature change, and the rarity of leaf fossils. However, the data suggest both cooling and drying from the early Miocene. The presence of crocodiles yet the disappearance of palms, suggests a MAT that was at the lower end of existence for both of these groups, perhaps about 14°C. By the late Miocene, there is evidence for significant cooling, both from leaf size and a drop in plant diversity, which resulted in vegetation dominated in many places by Nothofagus.Mike Pole. Queensland Herbarium, Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha,

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Miocene climate in New Zealand: Estimates from paleobotanical data

Pole¹

2014

Palaeontologia Electronica

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“…Detrended correspondence analysis yielded sample configurations similar to those of CA for all three data sets; hence, detrending was not warranted and the results of the statistically more neutral CA were retained. Community response to lake depth and salinity was evaluated by canonical correspondence analyses (CCA), a direct gradient technique in which the fossil distributions are treated as response variables and the documented or reconstructed changes in specific environmental factors as predictor variables (ter Braak and Prentice 1988;Sluiter et al 1995). The lake depth corresponding to a particular core sample was calculated by linking the historical lake-depth record of Lake Naivasha (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term dynamics of algal and invertebrate communities in a small, fluctuating tropical soda lake

Verschuren

Cocquyt

Tibby

et al. 1999

Limnology & Oceanography

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Lake Sonachi, Kenya, is a small alkaline-saline crater lake that over the past 175 years has experienced considerable fluctuations in lake depth (Z max ϭ 3-18 m) and an alternation of meromictic and holomictic episodes lasting from a few years to several decades. Paleolimnological methods were used to reconstruct the long-term dynamics of algal and invertebrate communities in Lake Sonachi in relation to the historical evolution of their physical and chemical environment. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed only weak correlation between the stratigraphic distributions of fossil algal pigments, diatoms, and chironomid larvae in 210 Pb-dated sediment cores and the documented or reconstructed variation in lake depth, mixing regime, and surface-water conductivity. The eventful biological history of Lake Sonachi exemplifies the complexity of long-term community dynamics in tropical African soda lakes and reveals how phytoplankton community structure can exert direct control on benthic and planktonic invertebrate communities. The modest phytoplankton abundance and photosynthetic activity of Lake Sonachi when compared with other tropical African soda lakes represent recent lake conditions, resulting from a dramatic decline of filamentous cyanobacteria (e.g., Spirulina platensis) between the 1930s and 1970s and incomplete replacement by the small coccoid cyanobacteria (e.g., Synechococcus bacillaris), which are dominant today. This reduction in algal biomass favored benthic and planktonic invertebrates by reducing the prevalence of complete water-column anoxia associated with intense nighttime respiration of cyanobacterial blooms. Anoxia-intolerant halobiont chironomids expanded during an episode of low lake level (Z max Ͻ 4 m), holomixis, and high conductivity (Ͼ9,000 S cm Ϫ1

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“…Kershaw and Nix, 1988;Sluiter et al, 1995). This strategy was suggested as alternative by Grimm and Denk (2012) for cases where high quality distribution data are available, such as those provided by Thompson et al (1999aThompson et al ( , b, 2001Thompson et al ( , 2006.…”

Section: Chronic Instability and Inconclusiveness Of Ca + Pf Reconstrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fables and foibles: A critical analysis of the Palaeoflora database and the Coexistence Approach for palaeoclimate reconstruction

Grimm

Bouchal

Denk

et al. 2016

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

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The 'Coexistence Approach' is a mutual climate range (MCR) technique combined with the nearest-living relative (NLR) concept. It has been widely used for palaeoclimate reconstructions based on Eurasian plant fossil assemblages; most of them palynofloras (studied using light microscopy). The results have been surprisingly uniform, typically converging to subtropical, per-humid or monsoonal conditions. Studies based on the Coexistence Approach have had a marked impact in literature, generating over 10,000 citations thus far. However, recent studies have pointed out inherent theoretical and practical problems entangled in the application of this widely used method. But so far little is known how results generated by the Coexistence Approach are affected by subjective errors, data errors, and violations of the basic assumptions. The majority of Coexistence Approach studies make use of the Palaeoflora database (the combination of which will be abbreviated to CA + PF). Testing results produced by CA + PF studies has been hindered by the general unavailability of the contents in the underlying Palaeoflora database; two exceptions are the mean-annual temperature tolerances and lists of assigned associations between fossils and nearest-living relatives. Using a recently published study on the Eocene of China, which provides the first and only insight into the data structure of the Palaeoflora database, we compare the theory and practice of Coexistence Approach using the Palaeoflora database (CA + PF). We show that CA + PF is riddled by association and climate data error. We reveal flaws in the application of the Coexistence Approach, which is often in stark contrast to the theory of the method. We show that CA + PF is highly vulnerable against numerous sources of errors, mainly because it lacks safeguards that could identify unreliable data. We demonstrate that the CA + PF produces coherent, pseudo-precise results even for artificially generated, random plant assemblages. Alternative MCR-NLR methods can surpass the most imminent deficits of the Coexistence Approach, and may be used as a stop-gap until more accurate bioclimatic and distribution data on potential Eurasian NLRs, and theoretically and statistically robust methods will become available. Finally, general guidelines are provided for the future application of methods using the mutual climatic range with nearest living relatives approach when reconstructing climate from plant fossil assemblages.

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Biogeographic, ecological and stratigraphic relationships of the Miocene brown coal floras, Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia

Cited by 43 publications

References 14 publications

The Miocene climate in New Zealand: Estimates from paleobotanical data

The Miocene climate in New Zealand: Estimates from paleobotanical data

Long‐term dynamics of algal and invertebrate communities in a small, fluctuating tropical soda lake

Fables and foibles: A critical analysis of the Palaeoflora database and the Coexistence Approach for palaeoclimate reconstruction

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