Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:24:32.891Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vegetation and Climates in Southern Tasmania since the Last Glaciation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael K. Macphail
Michael K. Macphail*
Affiliation:
Botany Department, Victoria University of Wellington, Private Bag, Wellington, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Enclosed basins (glacial and nonglacia) of Tasmania contain the most comprehensive record in Australia of trends in a regional vegetation and climate since the late Pleistocene. Seven pollen sequences, each continuous and extending back at least 10,000 years, are used to reconstruct the history of postglacial vegetation and climate in Southern Tasmania (42°S–43°30′S). Interpretations are supported by a study of the modern pollen rain. Postglacial climates in Tasmania were characterized by a strong west-to-east decrease in precipitation. During the late Pleistocene, climates were markedly colder and drier than at present, and the vegetation was largely devoid of trees. A major rise in temperature between ca. 11,500 and 9500 yr B.P., accompanied by rising effective precipitation, resulted in the expansion of Eucalyptus, then other trees, across Tasmania. This warming trend may have been temporarily reversed during the early postglacial. Dry climates delayed the development of forest in inland eastern Tasmania until after ca. 9500 yr B.P. There is no evidence for a major change in climate since this temperature rise. Two broad phases of development have occurred within the postglacial forests. The first was an early Holocene phase during which Nothofagus cunninghamii cool temperate rain forest developed in western Tasmania and on the slopes of mountains in central and southeastern Tasmania. Eucalyptus sclerophyll forests developed in eastern Tasmania and have remained dominant there since. By ca. 7800 yr B.P. rain-forest communities were established beyond present-day limits. The second phase was a mid to late Holocene phase during which forests and alpine vegetation became more open in structure, leading to the re-expansion of Eucalyptus and shade-intolerant species. During the early to mid Holocene, climates in Southern Tasmania were wetter and (? then) warmer than at present. Maximum and minimum dates for this “optimum” are 8000 and 5000 yr B.P. Since then, climates have become increasingly rigorous, possibly through an increased incidence of inequable “weather types” leading to an increase in the frequency of drought and frost. Structural changes in the postglacial vegetation of Southern Tasmania closely parallel those at equivalent latitudes in New Zealand and Chilean South America, hence are likely to reflect the same primary cause.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , May 1979 , pp. 306 - 341
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Banks, M.R., (1973). General geology. Banks, M.R., The Lake Country of Tasmania. Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 25-33.Google Scholar
Banks, M.R., (1973). Geomorphology. Banks, M.R., The Lake Country of Tasmania. Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 55-60.Google Scholar
Banks, M.R., Colhoun, E.A., van der Geer, G., (1976). Late Quaternary Palorchestes azael (Mammalia, Diprotodontidae) from north-western Tasmania. Alcheringa. 1, 159-166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binder, R., Kershaw, A.P., (1978). A late-Quaternary pollen diagram from the south-eastern Highlands of Australia. Search. 9, 44-45.Google Scholar
Bowdler, S., (1974). Pleistocene date for man in Tasmania. Nature (London). 252, 697-698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowler, J.M., (1973). Clay dunes: their occurrence, formation and environmental significance. Earth Science Review. 9, 315-338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowler, J.M., Hope, G.S., Jennings, G.N., Singh, G., Walker, D., (1976). Late Quaternary climates of Australia and New Guinea. Quaternary Research. 6, 359-394.Google Scholar
Buckney, R.T., Tyler, P.A., (1972). The chemistry of Tasmanian inland waters. Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie. 58, 61-78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bureau, Meteorology, (1975). Climate of Tasmania. Tasmanian Year Book. 9/1975, 43-54.Google Scholar
Caine, N.T., (1968) The Blocktields of Northeastern Tasmania. Australian National University Press, Canberra, Department of Geography Publication, G/6.Google Scholar
Caine, N.T., (1968). Carbon- 14 dates from the Broad River Valley, Mt. Field National Park, Tasmania. Australian Journal of Science. 31, 119-120.Google Scholar
Calder, J.E., (1850). An account of the “Great Frost” of 1837. Hobart Town Courier. 21 September 1850.Google Scholar
Chick, N.K., Colhoun, E.A., (1972). 1971–1972 research on Quaternary shorelines in Australia and New Zealand: Tasmania. Search. 3, 413.Google Scholar
Colhoun, E.A., (1975). A Quaternary climatic curve for Tasmania. Unpublished manuscript presented at Australian Conference on Climate and Climatic Change. Monash University .Google Scholar
Colhoun, E.A., (1977). A sequence of Late Quaternary deposits at Pipe Clay Lagoon, southeastern Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 111, 1-12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colhoun, E.A., (1977). Late Quaternary fan gravels and slope deposits at Rocky Cape, northwestern Tasmania: their palaeoenvironmental significance. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 111, 13-27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colhoun, E.A., (1977). The Remarkable Cave, southeastern Tasmania: its geomorphological development and environmental history. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 111, 29-39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costin, A.B., (1972). Carbon-14 dates from the Snowy Mountains area, southeastern Australia, and their interpretation. Quaternary Research. 2, 579-590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costin, A.B., (1973). Characteristics and use of the Australian high country. Banks, M.R., The Lake Country of Tasmania. Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 1-24.Google Scholar
Coulter, J.D., (1967). Mountain climate. Proceedings of the New Zealand Ecological Society. 40-58 No. 14.Google Scholar
Cremer, K.W., Mount, A.B., (1964). Early stages of plant succession following the complete felling and burning of Eucalyptus regnans forest in the Florentine Valley, Tasmania. Australian Journal of Botany. 13, 303-322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, T.M., Cremer, K.W., (1965). Control of understorey in wet eucalypt forests. Australian Forestry. 29, 4-14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, W.C., (1956) The Students Flora of Tasmania. Government Printer, Hobart, Parts 1–3.Google Scholar
Davies, J.L., (1959). High level erosion surfaces and landscape development in Tasmania. Australian Geographer. 7, 193-203.Google Scholar
Davies, J.L., (1965). Landforms. Davies, J.L., Atlas of Tasmania. Department of Lands and Surveys, Hobart, 19-22.Google Scholar
Davies, J.L., (1967). Tasmanian landforms and Quaternary climates. Jennings, J.N., Mabbut, J.A., Landform Studies from Australia and New Guinea. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1-25.Google Scholar
Davies, J.L., (1969) Landforms of Cold Climates. Australian National University Press, Canberra. Google Scholar
Davies, J.L., (1974). Geomorphology and Quaternary environments. Williams, W.D., Biogeography and Ecology in Tasmania. W. Junk, Hague, 17-27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derbyshire, E., (1968). Glacial map of Northwest-Central Tasmania. Tasmanian Department of Mines, Geological Survey Record. 6, 1-46.Google Scholar
Derbyshire, E., (1971). A synoptic approach to the atmospheric circulation of the last glacial maximum in southeastern Australia. Palaeogeography. Palaeoclimatology. Palaeoecology. 10, 103-124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derbyshire, E., (1972). Pleistocene glaciation of Tasmania: review and speculation. Australian Geographical Studies. 10, 79-94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derbyshire, E., Banks, M.R., Davies, J.L., Jennings, J.L., (1965). Glacial map of Tasmania. Royal Society of Tasmania Special Publication. 2, 1-11.Google Scholar
Derbyshire, E., Peterson, J.A., (1971). On the status and correlation of Pleistocene glacial episodes in Southeastern Australia. Search. 2, 285-288.Google Scholar
Dodson, J.R., (1974). Vegetation history and water fluctuations at Lake Leake, south-eastern South Australia. I. 10,000 B.P.-Present. Australian Journal of Botany. 22, 719-741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodson, J.R., (1975). Vegetation history and water fluctuations at Lake Leake, south-eastern South Australia. II. 50,000–10,000 B.P.. Australian Journal of Botany. 23, 815-831.Google Scholar
Dodson, J.R., (1976). Late Quaternary palaeoecology of Wyrie Swamp, south-eastern South Australia. Quaternary Research. 8, 97-114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodson, J.R., (1977). Pollen deposition in a small closed drainage basin lake. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 24, 179-193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, I.J., (1973). Management of water yield. Banks, M.R., The Lake Country of Tasmania. Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 177-182.Google Scholar
Ellis, R.C., (1971). Dieback of alpine ash as related to changes in soil temperature. Australian Forestry. 35, 152-163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faegri, K., Iversen, J., (1964) Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Munksgaard, Copenhagen. Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R.W., (1966). Mountain climates. Fairbridge, R.W., The Encyclopaedia of Atmospheric Sciences and Astrogeology. Rheinhold, New York, 662.Google Scholar
Foley, J.C., (1945). Frost in the Australian region. Commonwealth Meterological Bureau Bulletin. 32, 1-14.Google Scholar
Franks, J.W., (1965). The preparation of samples for pollen analysis. Pollen et Spores. 7, 573-575.Google Scholar
Galloway, R.W., (1965). Late Quaternary environments in Australia. Journal of Geology. 73, 603-618.Google Scholar
Gentilli, J., (1972) Australian Climatic Patterns. Nelson, Melbourne. Google Scholar
Gilbert, J.M., (1959). Forest succession in the Florentine Valley, Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 93, 129-151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goede, A., (1965). Geomorphology of the Buckland Basin, Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 99, 133-154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goede, A., (1973). Floodplain stratigraphy of the Tea Tree Rivulet, Buckland, eastern Tasmania. Australian Geographical Studies. 11, 28-39.Google Scholar
Goede, A., Murray, P., (1977). Pleistocene man in southern central Tasmania: evidence from a cave site in the Florentine Valley. Mankind. 11, 2-10.Google Scholar
Harwood, C.E., Jackson, W.D., (1975). Atmospheric losses of four plant nutrients during a forest fire. Australian Forestry. 38, 92-97.Google Scholar
Henderson, W., Wilkins, C.W., (1975). The interaction of bush fires and vegetation. Search. 6, 130-133.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1966). Late-Pleistocene pollen diagrams from the Province of Llanquihue, southern Chile. American Philosophical Society Proceedings. 110, 269-305.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1974). Vegetation and climate of the southern Chilean Lake District during and since the last interglaciation. Quaternary Research. 4, 290-315.Google Scholar
Hogg, A., Kirkpatrick, J.B., (1974). The phytosociology and synecology of some Southern Tasmanian eucalypt forests and woodlands. Journal of Biogeography. 1, 227-245.Google Scholar
Hope, G.S., (1969). Pollen Studies from Wilsons Promontory, Victoria. Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis. University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Google Scholar
Hope, G.S., (1976). The vegetational history of Mt Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Ecology. 64, 627-661.Google Scholar
Howard, T.M., (1973). Studies in the ecology of Nothofagus cunninghamii Oerst. forests in Tasmania. Parts I–III. Australian Journal of Botany. 21, 67-102.Google Scholar
Jackson, W.D., (1965). Vegetation. Davies, J.L., Atlas of Tasmania. Department of Lands and Surveys, Hobart, 30-35.Google Scholar
Jackson, W.D., (1968). Fire, air, water and earth—an elemental ecology of Tasmania. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia. 3, 9-16.Google Scholar
Jackson, W.D., (1968). Fire and the Tasmanian Flora. Tasmanian Year Book. 2/1968, 50-55.Google Scholar
Jackson, W.D., (1973). Vegetation of the Central Plateau. Banks, M.R., The Lake Country of Tasmania. Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 61-86.Google Scholar
Jackson, W.D., (1974). Conservation in Tasmania. Australian Journal of Botany Supplementary Series. 7, 319-448.Google Scholar
Jennings, J.N., (1971). Sea level changes and land links. Mulvaney, D.J., Golson, J., Aboriginal Man and Environment in Australia. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1-13.Google Scholar
Jennings, J.N., Ahmad, N., (1957). The legacy of an ice cap. Australian Geographer. 6, 62-75.Google Scholar
Jones, R., (1966). A speculative archaeological sequence for north-west Tasmania. Records of the Queen Victoria Museum N.S.. 25, 1-12.Google Scholar
Jones, R., (1968). The geographical background to the arrival of man in Australia and Tasmania. Archaeology and physical Anthropology in Oceania. 3, 186-215.Google Scholar
Jones, R., (1969). Fire-stick farming. Australian Natural History. 224-228 September 1969.Google Scholar
Jones, R., (1971). The demography of hunters and farmers in Tasmania. Mulvaney, D.J., Golson, J., Aboriginal Man and Environment in Australia. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 271-287.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, S., ørgensen, 1967. A method of absolute pollen counting. New Phytologist. 66, 489-494.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, J.B., (1975). Plant species diversity of the Lake Dora Islands, Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 109, 33-37.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, J.B., (1977). Native vegetation of the West Coast region of Tasmania. Landscape and Man. Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 55-80.Google Scholar
Langford, J., (1965). Weather and climate. Davies, J.L., Atlas of Tasmania. Department of Lands and Surveys, Hobart, 2-11.Google Scholar
Lewis, A.N., (1922). Preliminary sketch of the glacial remains in the National Park. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 1921 16-36.Google Scholar
Lewis, A.N., (1922). A supplementary note on the preliminary sketch of the glacial remains in the National Park of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 1921 177-179.Google Scholar
Lintott, W.H., Burrows, C.J., (1973). A pollen diagram and macrofossils from Kettlehole Bog, Cass, South Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 11, 269-282.Google Scholar
Macphail, M.K., (1975). Late Pleistocene environments in Tasmania. Search. 6, 295-300.Google Scholar
Macphail, M.K., (1976). The History of the Vegetation and Climate in Southern Tasmania since the Late Pleistocene (ca. 13,0000 B.P.. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. University of Tasmania, Hobart. Google Scholar
Macphail, M.K., Peterson, J.A., (1975). New deglaciation dates from Tasmania. Search. 6, 127-130.Google Scholar
Macphail, M.K., Jackson, W.D., (1978). The late Pleistocene and Holocene history of the Midlands of Tasmania: pollen evidence from Lake Tiberias. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 90, 287-300.Google Scholar
Martin, D., (1940). The vegetation of Mt Wellington, Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 1939 97-124.Google Scholar
McGlone, M.S., Moar, N.T., (1977). The Ascarina decline and post-glacial climatic change in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 15, 485-489.Google Scholar
McGlone, M.S., Topping, W.E., (1977). Aranuian (post-glacial) pollen diagrams from the Tongariro region, North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 15, 749-760.Google Scholar
Moar, N.T., (1970). Recent pollen spectra from three localities in the South Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 8, 210-221.Google Scholar
Moar, N.T., (1971). Contributions to the Quaternary history of the New Zealand flora. 6. Aranuian pollen diagrams from Canterbury, Nelson and North Westland, South Island. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 9, 80-145.Google Scholar
Moar, N.T., (1973). Late Pleistocene vegetation and environment in southern New Zealand. Palaeoecology of Africa. 8, 179-198.Google Scholar
Mount, A.B., (1964). The interdependence of the eucalypts and forest fires in southern Australia. Australian forestry. 28, 166-172.Google Scholar
Nicolls, K.D., (1958). Aeolian deposits in river valleys in Tasmania. Australian Journal of Science. 21, 50-51.Google Scholar
Orme, R.K., (1971). The Regeneration of Commercial Eucalypt Forests on Surrey Hills, N.W. Tasmania. Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis. University of Tasmania, Hobart. Google Scholar
Peterson, J.A., (1966). Glaciation of the Frenchmans Cap National Park. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 100, 147-151.Google Scholar
Peterson, J.A., (1968). Cirque morphology and Pleistocene ice formation conditions in southeastern Australia. Australian Geographic Studies. 6, 67-83.Google Scholar
Peterson, J.A., (1969). The Cirques of Southeastern Australia. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Monash University, Melbourne. Google Scholar
Peterson, J.A., Robinson, G., (1969). Trend surface mapping of cirque floor levels. Nature (London). 222, 75-76.Google Scholar
Pittock, A.B., (1971). Rainfall and the General Circulation. Proceedings of the International Conference on Weather Modification. Canberra American Meteorological Society, Boston, 330-338.Google Scholar
Raine, I., (1974). Pollen Sedimentation in Relation to the Quaternary Vegetation History of the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Australian National University. Google Scholar
Rommer, R.J., Fairbridge, R.W., (1966). Lapse rate. Fairbridge, R.W., The Encyclopaedia of Atmospheric Science and Astrogeology. Rheinhold, New York, 527-530.Google Scholar
Scott, P., (1956). Variability of annual rainfall in Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania. 90, 49-57.Google Scholar
Sigleo, W.S., Colhoun, E.A., (1975). Glacial age man in south-eastern Tasmania: evidence from the Old Beach site. Search. 6, 300-302.Google Scholar
Specht, R.L., (1970). Vegetation. Leeper, G.W., The Australian Environment. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 44-67.Google Scholar
Thomas, K.W., (1964). A new design for a peat sampler. New Phytologist. 63, 422-425.Google Scholar
Walker, D., (1970). The changing vegetation of the montane tropics. Search. 1, 217-221.Google Scholar
Wardle, P., (1964). Facets of the distribution of the forest vegetation in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 2, 352-366.Google Scholar
Wasson, R., (1977). Catchment processes and the evoiution of alluvial fans in the lower Derwent Valley, Tasmania. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie N.F.. 21, 147-168.Google Scholar
Willis, J.H., (1970) A Handbook to Plants in Victoria. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Vol. 1: “Conifers and Monocotyledons.”.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.T., Hendy, C.H., (1971). Past wind strength from isotope studies. Nature (London). 234, 344-345.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E., (1972). Interglacial and postglacial climates: the pollen record. Quaternary Research. 2, 274-282.Google Scholar