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Vegetation Change in the Coastal-Lowland Rainforest at Avai'o'vuna Swamp, Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Patricia L. Fall
Patricia L. Fall*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0104, USA
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Abstract

Avai'o'vuna Swamp, a small coastal wetland in Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga, produced a 4500-year pollen and sediment record. Results are: (1) a mid-Holocene sea level highstand is confirmed for Tonga between about 4500 and 2600 14C yr B.P.; marine clay contains pollen from mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), coastal forest trees (Barringtonia asiatica and Cocos nucifera), and rainforest trees (Alphitonia, Rhus, Hedycarya and Calophyllum). (2) Microscopic charcoal first appeared at 2600 14C yr B.P., coincident with the arrival of Polynesians. (3) Cocos, Pandanus, Excoecaria, Macaranga, and Elaeocarpaceae pollen reflects the establishment of a mixed coastal-lowland rainforest in the last 2500 years. (4) The loss of Hedycarya, Elaeocarpus, Calophyllum, and Guettarda and the reduction of Terminalia and taxa in the Papilionaceae family by about 1000 years ago may be due to habitat destruction and the loss of dispersal capabilities of some species through the extinction of the two largest pigeons in Tonga.

Keywords

Coastal-lowland rainforestHuman impactsMid-Holocene sea levelPlant dispersalPollenPolynesiaTongaTropical hardwood forestVava'uVegetation history
Type
Short Papers
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , November 2005 , pp. 451 - 459
Copyright
University of Washington

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