Fossil<i>Pomaderris apetala</i>-type pollen in North-West Nelson: reflecting extension of wet sclerophyll forests in south-eastern Australia?

Macphail, Michael

doi:10.1080/0028825x.1981.10425185

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Charcoal levels decline in this period and remain low. Combined with the strong representation of Pomaderris apetala – a regionally dispersed wet sclerophyll sub-dominant – this supports models of a moist early-Holocene in eastern Tasmania (Fletcher and Moreno, 2012; Harrison and Dodson, 1993; Macphail, 1981). Although the early-Holocene abundance of Pomaderris in both this and other eastern/central Tasmanian cores (Mackenzie and Moss, 2014; Macphail and Jackson, 1978; Thomas and Hope, 1994) could also be interpreted as an indicator of higher disturbance (Coates, 1991) and/or more open vegetation (allowing higher extra-local pollen influx), its co-occurrence with low charcoal levels and high regional lake levels (Harrison and Dodson, 1993) on balance support the interpretation of regionally moister conditions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Long-term environmental change in eastern Tasmania: Vegetation, climate and fire at Stoney Lagoon

2017

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Tasmania's dry, inland east is ideally positioned to inform models of late Quaternary environmental change in southern Australasia. Despite this, it remains poorly represented in the palaeoecological record. Here, we seek to address this with a >13,000-year vegetation and fire history from Stoney Lagoon, a site at the eastern margin of Tasmania's inland Midlands plains. Pollen and charcoal analysis indicates that here, a relatively moist early deglacial was followed by a dry later deglacial (ca. 14,000-12,000 cal. BP), when sclerophyll forests became well established and burning increased. This suggests that the Midlands' vegetation responded to the climatic signals characterising Australia's southeastern coast rather than those governing developments in western Tasmania. Dry sclerophyll forest persisted throughout the Holocene; with a pronounced transition from more to less grassy understoreys between ca. 9000 and 7000 cal. BP. From the mid-Holocene, the sclerophyll community remains relatively stable. However, increased fire activity and trends in moisture-sensitive taxa suggest generally drier conditions coupled with greater hydroclimatic variability under the strengthening influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Overall, these results highlight the role of macro-scale climatic shifts in shaping vegetation development in Tasmania's inland east, while hinting at the concurrent importance of local ecological drivers. This highlights the need for spatially diverse studies to understand interactions between drivers of long-term environmental change in sub-humid southern Australia. This research also supports conservation by strengthening understandings of pre-colonial baselines in this highly modified landscape.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Long-term environmental change in eastern Tasmania: Vegetation, climate and fire at Stoney Lagoon

2017

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“…It was not possible to identify the macroscopic material to species level because of its fragmentary nature. However, leaf fragments, fruit, opercula and epidermis of Eucalyptus , a leaf fragment of Pomaderris , a well dispersed pollen type (Macphail 1981), a number of globular flower heads of Acacia , Gahnia seeds and fragments of fern were identified (Fig. 5d).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The late Quaternary vegetation history of the south‐central highlands of Victoria, Australia. II. Sites below 900 m

McKenzie¹

2002

Austral Ecology

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The late Quaternary vegetation communities of the south‐central highlands of Victoria are constructed from analyses of pollen and charcoal, and macroscopic plant remains preserved in Sphagnum bogs. The sites, located in eucalypt forest or woodland, form an altitudinal sequence with the component Eucalyptus species varying with altitude and with small pockets of Nothofagus cunninghamii (Hook.) Oerst. in close proximity to the higher sites. The record from the sites above 900 m covers the last 32 000 years, and the record from the lower sites extends from at least 12 000 BP. Around 32 000 BP the region was predominantly covered by a mosaic of alpine feldmark and herbfield, with small patches of Eucalyptus and Nothofagus woodland close to sea level when summer temperatures were probably 5°C lower than present. Lowest values, probably 7°–8°C below present, occurred between 19 800 and 16 900 BP, when alpine communities were most widespread and much of the Central Highlands was treeless. Around 12 000 BP alpine taxa disappeared or were greatly reduced, first at the lower sites. There was an associated rise in the treeline with the movement upslope of Nothofagus and eucalypt forest as a result of a general increase in temperature and probably effective precipitation. By 6000 BP wet eucalypt forest and Nothofagus reached their maximum postglacial extent at all sites, possibly related to a further increase in temperature, at least 2°C lower than present, and higher effective precipitation. A continuing increase in temperature, or an increase in continentality, and a decrease in effective precipitation led to increased fire hazard and retraction of rainforest and wet sclerophyll or tall open forest toward present‐day values. Nothofagus disappeared from the sites below 900 m. The activities of humans pose further threats to remaining forest communities. The record of vegetation and environmental change derived from the local and regional picture from eight sites reinforces and complements that from the individual sites. For example, combining the records overcomes to some extent taphonomic problems such as the effect of streams that flow close to all sites, and other limitations including problems of dating, poor preservation and variable sedimentation rates.

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“…At Lake George the highest Holocene shorelines occur at 10–8 ka (Fitzsimmons and Barrows, ), but modelled lake levels from the composite Keilambete–Gnotuk record suggest high lake levels were limited to ∼1000 years centred at 7.2 ka (Wilkins et al ., ). In pollen records this interval is usually characterized by consistent representation of Pomaderris , indicating the development of more extensive wet forest (the ‘ Pomaderris rise’) (Macphail, ), but the interval is short‐lived at some sites such as Club Lake, which today lies above the montane forest zone (Martin, ). Pomaderris is virtually absent at both Micalong and Willigobung, suggesting that precipitation remained marginal for wet forest, but variations in effective precipitation may be the cause of alternations between drier and wetter forest elements at Micalong Swamp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation and environments since the Last Glacial Maximum in the Southern Tablelands, New South Wales

Kemp

Hope

2014

J Quaternary Science

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Regional changes in vegetation and environment in the last 16 ka have been reconstructed from Micalong Swamp and Willigobung Swamp (35°S) on the western Southern Tablelands of New South Wales (NSW). Micalong Swamp lies at 980 m above sea level (a.s.l.), which is close to the subalpine treeline at this latitude. Willigobung Swamp (780 m a.s.l.) approaches the modern ecotone between dry and wet montane forest formations. The sites are sensitive to shifts in temperature and precipitation and are the first reported pollen records from the western montane slopes of NSW. A radiocarbon‐based chronology indicates that Micalong Swamp was a swampy, gravel floodplain surrounded by alpine grassland before 16.1 ka. Subalpine woodland may have become established at 1000 m by 16–14 ka. Organic fen sedimentation developed <11.8 ka at Willigobung, and ∼11.7 ka at the higher elevation Micalong Swamp. Wet forest elements were present at both sites around 10 ka and persisted for 3–4 ka. Sedimentation in a shallow lake or fen between 10 and 8 ka supports this evidence for wetter conditions in the early Holocene. In the late Holocene an expansion of subalpine flora between 2.7 and 0.9 ka preceded by shallow lake/fen sedimentation is consistent with regional evidence for neoglacial cooling.

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FossilPomaderris apetala-type pollen in North-West Nelson: reflecting extension of wet sclerophyll forests in south-eastern Australia?

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

Long-term environmental change in eastern Tasmania: Vegetation, climate and fire at Stoney Lagoon

Long-term environmental change in eastern Tasmania: Vegetation, climate and fire at Stoney Lagoon

The late Quaternary vegetation history of the south‐central highlands of Victoria, Australia. II. Sites below 900 m

Vegetation and environments since the Last Glacial Maximum in the Southern Tablelands, New South Wales

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