Patrick Moss

A last glacial and deglacial pollen record from the northern South China Sea

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 02-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2016.12.012

Relative sea‐level changes in southeastern Australia during the 19^th and 20^th centuries

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 08-05-2023

DOI: 10.1002/JQS.3528

Abstract: Rates of global and regional sea‐level rise between ~1850 and 1950 were high compared to those in preceding centuries. The cause of this sea‐level acceleration remains uncertain, but it appears to be pronounced in a small set of relative sea‐level proxy records from the Southern Hemisphere. Here we generate three new proxy‐based relative sea‐level reconstructions for southeastern Australia to investigate spatial patterns and causes of historical sea‐level changes in the Tasman Sea. Palaeo sea‐level estimates were determined using salt‐marsh foraminifera as sea‐level indicators. Records are underpinned by chronologies based on accelerator mass spectrometry 14 C, radiogenic lead ( 210 Pb), stable lead isotopes and palynological analyses. Our reconstructions show that relative sea level rose by ~0.2–0.3 m over the last 200 years in southeastern Australia, and rates of sea‐level rise were especially high over the first half of the 20 th century. Based on modelled estimates of the contributing components to sea‐level rise, we suggest that the episode of rapid sea‐level rise was driven by barystatic contributions, but sterodynamic contributions were dominant by the mid‐20 th century. Significant spatial variability in relative sea level indicates that local to sub‐regional drivers of sea level are also prominent. Our reconstructions significantly enhance our understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern of early 20 th century sea‐level rise in the region.

Foliar physiognomic climate estimates for the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Lark Quarry fossil flora, central-western Queensland, Australia

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Date: 2013

DOI: 10.1071/BT13197

Abstract: Although there is a broad knowledge of Cretaceous climate on a global scale, quantitative climate estimates for terrestrial localities are limited. One source of terrestrial palaeoproxies is foliar physiognomy. The use of foliar physiognomy to explore Cretaceous assemblages has been limited, and some of its potential sources of error have not been fully explored. Although museum collections house a wealth of material, collection bias toward particular taxa or preservation qualities of specimens further magnifies existing taphonomic bias to cold temperatures. As a result, specific collection for foliar physiognomy can be necessary. Here, we conduct three foliar physiognomic analyses on the early Late Cretaceous Lark Quarry flora and assess the results in the context of other proxies from the same formation. Our results suggest that the climate at the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary in central western Queensland was warm and had high precipitation (leaf-area analysis: 1321 mm + 413 mm – 315 mm mean annual precipitation leaf-margin analysis: 16.4°C mean annual temperature, 5.3°C binomial s le error climate leaf-analysis multivariate program: 16 ± 2°C for mean annual temperature, 9-month growth season, 1073 ± 483 mm growth-season precipitation). Our analysis also gave higher mean annual temperature estimates than did a previous analysis by climate leaf-analysis multivariate program, based on museum collections for the Winton Formation.

Late Quaternary extraglacial cold-climate deposits in low and mid-altitude Tasmania and their climatic implications

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 12-2012

DOI: 10.1016/J.GEOMORPH.2012.08.009

Wood growth indices as climate indicators from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) portion of the Winton Formation, Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 2015

DOI: 10.1016/J.PALAEO.2014.10.012

Causes and consequences of long-term climatic variability on the Australian continent

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 18-06-2003

DOI: 10.1046/J.1365-2427.2003.01085.X

Plant communities and climate change in southeastern Australia during the early Paleogene

Publisher: Geological Society of America

Date: 2003

DOI: 10.1130/0-8137-2369-8.365

Paleoclimate of the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) portion of the Winton formation, central-western Queensland, Australia: New observations based on CLAMP and bioclimatic analysis

Publisher: Society for Sedimentary Geology

Date: 12-06-2014

DOI: 10.2110/PALO.2013.080

Modelling the potential range of the koala at the Last Glacial Maximum: Future conservation implications

Publisher: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

Date: 2011

DOI: 10.7882/AZ.2011.052

Patterned fen formation and development from the Great Sandy Region, south-east Queensland, Australia

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Date: 2016

DOI: 10.1071/MF14359

Abstract: The Great Sandy Region (incorporating Fraser Island and the Cooloola sand-mass), south-east Queensland, contains a significant area of Ramsar-listed coastal wetlands, including the globally important patterned fen complexes. These mires form an elaborate network of pools surrounded by vegetated peat ridges and are the only known subtropical, Southern Hemisphere ex les, with wetlands of this type typically located in high northern latitudes. Sedimentological, palynological and charcoal analysis from the Wathumba and Moon Point complexes on Fraser Island indicate two periods of sw formation (that may contain patterned fens), one commencing at 12 000 years ago (Moon Point) and the other ~4300 years ago (Wathumba). Wetland formation and development is thought to be related to a combination of biological and hydrological processes with the dominant peat-forming rush, Empodisma minus, being an important component of both patterned and non-patterned mires within the region. In contrast to Northern Hemisphere paludifying systems, the patterning appears to initiate at the start of wetland development or as part of an infilling process. The wetlands dominated by E. minus are highly resilient to disturbance, particularly burning and sea level alterations, and appear to form important refuge areas for hibians, fish and birds (both non-migratory and migratory) over thousands of years.

Environmental change since the Last Glacial Maximum: palaeo‐evidence from the Nee Soon Freshwater Swamp Forest, Singapore

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 15-12-2021

DOI: 10.1002/JQS.3403

Abstract: Our examination of pollen, microcharcoal, and sediment material in Nee Soon Freshwater Sw Forest in Singapore revealed the following regarding its more than 20 000‐year history: (1) the pollen record supports the presence of a savanna corridor in this part of South‐East Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (2) a high abundance of charcoal at depths greater than 1.5 m supports the existence of a dryer climate and/or more frequent fires until about 18 000 cal bp (3) missing sedimentary material in the upper 30–40 cm, ranging in age from 64 to 7500 cal bp , was likely removed during recent construction work in the 1950s (4) there is evidence of sea‐level influences on the site from the presence of mangroves from 9000 cal bp to present but it is difficult to determine whether this impacted the site because of the missing sediments and (5) the low organic carbon content throughout the stratigraphy indicates that the sw is not a peatland. The results indicate that the forest in this protected area of Singapore developed from a grassland‐dominated landscape after the LGM as the climate warmed and became wetter, and therefore, may not be as resilient to long‐term drought conditions as previously believed. Further, the stratigraphy contains evidence that the sw and stream system have been highly dynamic, both naturally and in response to anthropogenic disturbance.

Changing use of Lizard Island over the past 4000 years and implications for understanding Indigenous offshore island use on the Great Barrier Reef

Publisher: James Cook University

Date: 13-12-2020

DOI: 10.25120/QAR.23.2020.3778

Abstract: Archaeological records documenting the timing and use of northern Great Barrier Reef offshore islands by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout the Holocene are limited when compared to the central and southern extents of the region. Excavations on Lizard Island, located 33 km from Cape Flattery on the mainland, provide high resolution evidence for periodic, yet sustained offshore island use over the past 4000 years, with focused exploitation of erse marine resources and manufacture of quartz artefacts. An increase in island use occurs from around 2250 years ago, at a time when a hiatus or reduction in offshore island occupation has been documented for other Great Barrier Reef islands, but concurrent with demographic expansion across Torres Strait to the north. Archaeological evidence from Lizard Island provides a previously undocumented occupation pattern associated with Great Barrier Reef late Holocene island use. We suggest this trajectory of Lizard Island occupation was underwritten by its place within the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere, which may highlight its significance both locally and regionally across this vast seascape.

Climatic records over the past 30ka from temperate Australia - a synthesis from the Oz-INTIMATE workgroup

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 08-2013

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2012.12.012

Latitudinal limits to the predicted increase of the peatland carbon sink with warming

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 10-09-2018

DOI: 10.1038/S41558-018-0271-1

Fraser Island (K'gari) and initiation of the Great Barrier Reef linked by Middle Pleistocene sea-level change

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 14-11-2022

DOI: 10.1038/S41561-022-01062-6

Abstract: The eastern Australia coastline is characterized by impressive coastal landforms and an extensive northward-moving longshore drift system that have been influenced by a stable, long-term tectonic history over the Quaternary period. However, the timing and drivers of the formation of two conspicuous landscape features—Fraser Island (K’gari) and the Great Barrier Reef—remain poorly understood. Here we use optically stimulated luminescence and palaeomagnetic dating to constrain the formation of the extensive dunes that make up Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island, and adjacent Cooloola Sand Mass in southeastern Queensland. We find that both formed between 1.2 Ma and 0.7 Ma, during a global climate reconfiguration across the Middle Pleistocene transition. They formed as a direct result of increased litude of sea-level fluctuations associated with increasing global ice volume that redistributed previously stored sediment across the continental shelf. The development of Fraser Island dramatically reduced sediment supply to the continental shelf north of the island. This facilitated widespread coral reef formation in the southern and central Great Barrier Reef and was a necessary precondition for its development. This major reorganization of the coastal sedimentary system is probably not unique to eastern Australia and should be investigated in other passive-margin coastlines.

Stratigraphic Architecture of a Regressive Strand Plain, Flinders Beach, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia

Publisher: Coastal Education and Research Foundation

Date: 21-11-2013

DOI: 10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00234.1

Integration of ice-core, marine and terrestrial records for the Australian last glacial maximum and termination: A contribution from the OZ INTIMATE group

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 2006

DOI: 10.1002/JQS.1073

Fossil biotas from the Okanagan Highlands, southern British Columbia and northeastern Washington State: climates and ecosystems across an Eocene landscape

Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing

Date: 02-2005

DOI: 10.1139/E04-100

Abstract: The late Early to early Middle Eocene Okanagan Highlands fossil sites, spanning ~1000 km north–south (northeastern Washington State, southern British Columbia) provide an opportunity to reconstruct biotic communities across a broad upland landscape during the warmest part of the Cenozoic. Plant taxa from these fossil sites are characteristic of the modern eastern North American deciduous forest zone, principally the mixed mesophytic forest, but also include extinct taxa, taxa known only from eastern Asian mesothermal forests, and a small number of taxa restricted to the present-day North American west coast coniferous biome. In this preliminary report, paleoclimates and forest types are reconstructed using collections from Republic in Washington State, USA., and Princeton, Quilchena, Falkland, McAbee, Hat Creek, Horsefly, and Driftwood Canyon in British Columbia, Canada. Both leaf margin analysis (LMA) and quantitative bioclimatic analysis of identified nearest living relatives of megaflora indicated upper microthermal to lower mesothermal moist environments (MAT ~10–15 °C, CMMT 0 °C, MAP 100 cm/year). Some taxa common to most sites suggest cool conditions (e.g., Abies, other Pinaceae Alnus, other Betulaceae). However, all floras contain a substantive broadleaf deciduous element (e.g., Fagaceae, Juglandaceae) and conifers (e.g., Metasequoia) with the bioclimatic analysis yielding slightly higher MAT than LMA. Thermophilic (principally mesothermal) taxa include various insects, the aquatic fern Azolla, palms, the banana relative Ensete, taxodiaceous conifers, Eucommia and Gordonia, taxa which may have occurred near their climatic limits. The mixture of thermophilic and temperate insect and plant taxa indicates low-temperature seasonality (i.e., highly equable climate).

Short-term late Holocene dry season occupation and sandy-mud flat focused foraging at Murdumurdu, Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria

Publisher: James Cook University

Date: 22-08-2017

DOI: 10.25120/QAR.20.2017.3588

Abstract: Archaeological survey, excavations, and analyses of the Murdumurdu shell midden on Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria are reported. Patterns of subsistence as well as the timing and periodicity of site use are investigated through quantification of cultural materials, AMS radiocarbon dating, stable isotopic analysis of Marcia hiantina shell carbonates (δ18O and δ13C), magnetic susceptibility analysis of the deposits and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Exploitation of shellfish focused on sandy-mud flat species (especially M. hiantina and Gafrarium pectinatum) with occupation occurring exclusively during the dry season (May-August). Radiocarbon dating reveals that the main period of occupation was short, albeit intense and occurred c.300 years ago. Initiation of occupation closely follows the establishment of freshwater conditions in the adjacent Marralda Sw . These factors suggest that use of Murdumurdu was limited, potentially representing a single deposition event or multiple short, discrete episodes, in a landscape rich with similar archaeological deposits.

History of vegetation and habitat change in the Austral-Asian region

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 2004

DOI: 10.1016/S1040-6182(03)00133-2

Prioritizing regions to conserve a specialist folivore: Considering probability of occurrence, food resources, and climate change

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 21-08-2015

DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12125

Expert assessment of future vulnerability of the global peatland carbon sink

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 07-12-2020

DOI: 10.1038/S41558-020-00944-0

The palaeoenvironment of the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) portion of the Winton Formation, Queensland, Australia

Publisher: PeerJ

Date: 07-09-2018

DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.5513

Abstract: The Winton Formation is increasingly recognised as an important source of information about the Cretaceous of Australia, and, more broadly, the palaeobiogeographic history of eastern Gondwana. With more precise dating and stratigraphic controls starting to provide temporal context to the geological and palaeontological understanding of this formation, it is timely to reassess the palaeoenvironment in which it was deposited. This new understanding helps to further differentiate the upper, most-studied portion of the formation (Cenomanian–Turonian) from the lower portions (Albian–Cenomanian), allowing a coherent picture of the ecosystem to emerge. Temperatures during the deposition of the Upper Cretaceous portion of the Winton Formation were warm, with high, seasonal rainfall, but not as extreme as the modern monsoon. The landscape was heterogeneous, a freshwater alluvial plain bestrode by low energy, meandering rivers, minor lakes and mires. Infrequent, scouring flood events were part of a multi-year cycle of drier and wetter years. The heavily vegetated flood plains supported abundant large herbivores. This was the final infilling of the great Eromanga Basin.

Late Quaternary Milankovitch-scale climatic change and variability and its impact on monsoonal Australasia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 09-2003

DOI: 10.1016/S0025-3227(03)00210-X

Redating the onset of burning of Lynch's Crater (North Queensland): Implications for human settlement in Australia

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 2001

DOI: 10.1002/JQS.643

Subsistence lifestyles and insular forest loss in the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea: An endemic hotspot

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Date: 2018

DOI: 10.1071/PC17047

Abstract: Insular areas of the south-west Pacific support high levels of global bio ersity and are undergoing rapid change. The Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea is a poorly known location with high levels of endemism. The largest island, Sudest Island, supports single-island endemic species and has the largest tract of forest remaining in this island group. The islands still support traditional subsistence lifestyles. This study investigated the patterns of forest loss since 1974 and predicted future forest loss to identify areas of conservation concern. We collected village population census data to assess population growth from 1979–2011. Historical vegetation mapping from 1974 was compared with Global Forest Change data from 2000–14. The geospatial drivers of forest loss were investigated using a generalised linear mixed model. Projected forest cover loss patterns in the islands were modelled in GEOMOD to the year 2030. Resident populations grew rapidly (6.0% per year, 1979–2011) but only a low rate of forest loss (e.g. −0.035% per year, Sudest Island) was observed between 1974 and 2014, restricted to low elevations near villages. Future modelling showed varied impacts on the remaining forest extents of the larger islands. The study offers a rare contemporary ex le of a bio erse hotspot that has remained relatively secure. We concluded that local cultural and environmental settings of islands in the south-west Pacific can strongly determine the patterns and processes of forest cover change, and need to be considered in programs to conserve endemic ersity.

Modelling climate-change-induced shifts in the distribution of the koala

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Date: 2011

DOI: 10.1071/WR10156

Abstract: Context The impacts of climate change on the climate envelopes, and hence, distributions of species, are of ongoing concern for bio ersity worldwide. Knowing where climate refuge habitats will occur in the future is essential to conservation planning. The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a species highly vulnerable to climate change. However, the impact of climate change on its distribution is poorly understood. Aims We aimed to predict the likely shifts in the climate envelope of the koala throughout its natural distribution under various climate change scenarios and identify potential future climate refugia. Methods To predict possible future koala climate envelopes we developed bioclimatic models using Maxent, based on a substantial database of locality records and several climate change scenarios. Key results The predicted current koala climate envelope was concentrated in south-east Queensland, eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria, which generally showed congruency with their current known distribution. Under realistic projected future climate change, with the climate becoming increasingly drier and warmer, the models showed a significant progressive eastward and southward contraction in the koala’s climate envelope limit in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The models also indicated novel potentially suitable climate habitat in Tasmania and south-western Australia. Conclusions Under a future hotter and drier climate, current koala distributions, based on their climate envelope, will likely contract eastwards and southwards to many regions where koala populations are declining due to additional threats of high human population densities and ongoing pressures from habitat loss, dog attacks and vehicle collisions. In arid and semi-arid regions such as the Mulgalands of south-western Queensland, climate change is likely to compound the impacts of habitat loss, resulting in significant contractions in the distribution of this species. Implications Climate change pressures will likely change priorities for allocating conservation efforts for many species. Conservation planning needs to identify areas that will provide climatically suitable habitat for a species in a changing climate. In the case of the koala, inland habitats are likely to become climatically unsuitable, increasing the need to protect and restore the more mesic habitats, which are under threat from urbanisation. National and regional koala conservation policies need to anticipate these changes and synergistic threats. Therefore, a proactive approach to conservation planning is necessary to protect the koala and other species that depend on eucalypt forests.

Could alluvial knickpoint retreat rather than fire drive the loss of alluvial wet monsoon forest, tropical northern Australia?

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 06-04-2016

DOI: 10.1002/ESP.3933

Extended residence times for foraminifera in a marine-influenced terrestrial archaeological deposit and implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 02-2016

DOI: 10.1016/J.JASREP.2015.11.008

A late Quaternary record of vegetation and climate change from Hazards Lagoon, eastern Tasmania

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 03-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUAINT.2014.11.051

Combining monitoring, models and palaeolimnology to assess ecosystem response to environmental change at monthly to millennial timescales: The stability of Blue Lake, North Stradbroke Island, Australia

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 26-04-2013

DOI: 10.1111/FWB.12154

Abstract: Human‐induced environmental change threatens freshwater ecosystems, and knowing how these systems have responded to past variability can inform management decisions. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions provide insight, although their low temporal resolution may mask short‐term responses. Hence, a combination of short‐term, high‐resolution contemporary data and long‐term, low‐resolution palaeoenvironmental data can offer greater understanding of system behaviour. We demonstrate this approach by examining the response of a lake on N orth S tradbroke I sland, A ustralia, to environmental change, by investigating hydrological and water quality variation at different temporal scales. The data include daily lake discharge, monthly water quality, modelled annual lake discharge over a 117‐year period and comparisons of aerial photographs and lake bathymetry over the past 65 years. A palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the last c . 7500 years used pollen, stable isotopes, macrofossils and diatoms to provide a long‐term perspective. Despite variability in regional climate over recent decades, the depth and water chemistry of B lue L ake displayed little variation. At millennial timescales, there is clear evidence of catchment change in response to a marked shift in climate around 4500 years ago. However, diatom analysis indicates that B lue L ake has exhibited exceptional stability and resistance to change, compared to other A ustralian H olocene lake records. This suggests that B lue L ake has been an important climate refuge for aquatic biota in the past and, with appropriate management, should continue in this capacity into the future. This study highlights the benefits of a combined, multi‐temporal approach to inform understanding of the structure and function of freshwater ecosystems and their responses to environmental change. Such scientific understanding of system requirements is critical to achieving sustainable management objectives.

Lichen Monitoring Delineates Biodiversity on a Great Barrier Reef Coral Cay

Publisher: MDPI AG

Date: 05-05-2015

DOI: 10.3390/F6051557

A late Quaternary record of monsoon variability in the northwest Kimberley, Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 08-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUAINT.2017.02.019

The ACER pollen and charcoal database: a global resource to document vegetation and fire response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period

Publisher: Copernicus GmbH

Date: 11-09-2017

DOI: 10.5194/ESSD-9-679-2017

Abstract: Abstract. Quaternary records provide an opportunity to examine the nature of the vegetation and fire responses to rapid past climate changes comparable in velocity and magnitude to those expected in the 21st-century. The best documented ex les of rapid climate change in the past are the warming events associated with the Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycles during the last glacial period, which were sufficiently large to have had a potential feedback through changes in albedo and greenhouse gas emissions on climate. Previous reconstructions of vegetation and fire changes during the D–O cycles used independently constructed age models, making it difficult to compare the changes between different sites and regions. Here, we present the ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses) global database, which includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73–15 ka) with a temporal resolution better than 1000 years, 32 of which also provide charcoal records. A harmonized and consistent chronology based on radiometric dating (14C, 234U∕230Th, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), 40Ar∕39Ar-dated tephra layers) has been constructed for 86 of these records, although in some cases additional information was derived using common control points based on event stratigraphy. The ACER database compiles metadata including geospatial and dating information, pollen and charcoal counts, and pollen percentages of the characteristic biomes and is archived in Microsoft AccessTM at 0.1594/PANGAEA.870867.

Robust local vegetation records from dense archaeological shell matrixes: a palynological analysis of the Thundiy shell deposit, Bentinck Island, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 04-10-2016

DOI: 10.1007/S12520-016-0394-0

Environmental context for late Holocene human occupation of the South Wellesley Archipelago, Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 10-2015

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUAINT.2015.02.051

Holocene sea-level change and coastal landscape evolution in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Date: 26-06-2018

DOI: 10.1177/0959683618777070

Abstract: A revised Holocene sea-level history for the southern Gulf of Carpentaria is presented based on new data from the South Wellesley Archipelago and age recalibration of previous research. Results confirm that rising sea levels during the most recent post-glacial marine transgression breached the Arafura Sill ca. 11,700 cal. yr BP. Sea levels continued to rise to ca. –30 m by 10,000 cal. yr BP, leading to full marine conditions. By 7700 cal. yr BP, sea-level reached present mean sea-level (PMSL) and continued to rise to an elevation of between 1.5 m and 2 m above PMSL. Sea level remained ca. + 1.5 between 7000 and 4000 cal. yr BP, followed by rapid regression to within ± 0.5 m of PMSL by ca. 3500 cal. yr BP. When placed into a wider regional context results from this study show that coastal landscape evolution in the tropical north of Australia was not only dependent on sea-level change but also show a direct correlation with Holocene climate variability. Specifically, the formation and preservation of beach-rock deposits, intertidal successions, beach and chenier ridge systems hold valuable sea-level and Holocene climate proxies that can contribute to the growing research into lower latitude Holocene sea-level and climate histories.

Late Holocene vegetation and environments of the Mersey Valley, Tasmania

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Date: 2007

DOI: 10.1071/BT06010

Abstract: A record of vegetation and environmental change over the past 3000 years was obtained through pollen and charcoal analysis of sediments from a grassy plain in the Mersey Valley, Tasmania. The results tentatively suggest that Aborigines had an impact on the environment of the Mersey Valley, although the scale of the impact is difficult to quantify owing to complexities associated with the fire history and sedimentary processes. In addition, a strong regional climate signal (drier late Holocene environments) was observed, suggesting that both anthropogenic and climatic factors are required to explain pre-European environments. The study also showed the dramatic impact European settlers had on the Australian environment, with massive land clearance, introduction of exotic plant types and increased sedimentation rates.

Geochemical changes recorded in Lynch's Crater, Northeastern Australia, over the past 50 ka

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 04-2006

DOI: 10.1016/J.PALAEO.2005.09.009

A 60 000-year record of environmental change for the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Australia based on the ODP 820 marine core

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 08-2017

DOI: 10.1002/JQS.2977

The influence of a variable fire regime on woodland structure and composition

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Date: 2015

DOI: 10.1071/WF14052

Abstract: The post-fire response of vegetation reflects not only a single fire event but is the result of cumulative effects of previous fires in the landscape. For effective ecological fire management there is a need to better understand the relationship between different fire regimes and vegetation structure. The study investigated how different fire regimes affect stand structure and composition in subtropical eucalypt woodlands of central Queensland. We found that fire history category (i.e. specific combinations of time since fire, fire frequency and season of last burn) strongly influenced richness and abundance of species categorised as mid-storey trees and those in iduals currently in the mid-level strata. Time since fire and fire frequency appeared to have the strongest influence. A longer time since fire ( years since last burn), combined with infrequent fires ( fires in 12 year period) appeared to promote a dense mid-storey with the opposite conditions ( years since last burn fires in 12 year period) promoting more-open woodlands. Consideration of these combined fire regime attributes will allow fire managers to plan for a particular range of fire-mediated patches to maintain the desired ersity of vegetation structures.

Interventions to better manage the carbon stocks in Australian Melaleuca forests

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 11-2013

DOI: 10.1016/J.LANDUSEPOL.2013.04.018

Millennial and orbital variations of El Niño/Southern Oscillation and high-latitude climate in the last glacial period

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 03-2004

DOI: 10.1038/NATURE02386

Reduced rainfall drives biomass limitation of long‐term fire activity in Australia’s subtropical sclerophyll forests

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 11-06-2019

DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13628

A late Quaternary marine palynological record (oxygen isotope stages 1 to 7) for the humid tropics of northeastern Australia based on ODP Site 820

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 07-2007

DOI: 10.1016/J.PALAEO.2007.02.014

Pollen transport and deposition in riverine and marine environments within the humid tropics of northeastern Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 04-2005

DOI: 10.1016/J.REVPALBO.2004.11.003

Predictability of biomass burning in response to climate changes

Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Date: 23-10-2012

DOI: 10.1029/2011GB004249

Abstract: Climate is an important control on biomass burning, but the sensitivity of fire to changes in temperature and moisture balance has not been quantified. We analyze sedimentary charcoal records to show that the changes in fire regime over the past 21,000 yrs are predictable from changes in regional climates. Analyses of paleo‐ fire data show that fire increases monotonically with changes in temperature and peaks at intermediate moisture levels, and that temperature is quantitatively the most important driver of changes in biomass burning over the past 21,000 yrs. Given that a similar relationship between climate drivers and fire emerges from analyses of the interannual variability in biomass burning shown by remote‐sensing observations of month‐by‐month burnt area between 1996 and 2008, our results signal a serious cause for concern in the face of continuing global warming.

Evidence of ENSO mega‐drought triggered collapse of prehistory Aboriginal society in northwest Australia

Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Date: 28-11-2012

DOI: 10.1029/2012GL053916

Extinction of eastern Sahul megafauna coincides with sustained environmental deterioration

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 18-05-2020

DOI: 10.1038/S41467-020-15785-W

Abstract: Explanations for the Upper Pleistocene extinction of megafauna from Sahul (Australia and New Guinea) remain unresolved. Extinction hypotheses have advanced climate or human-driven scenarios, in spite of over three quarters of Sahul lacking reliable biogeographic or chronologic data. Here we present new megafauna from north-eastern Australia that suffered extinction sometime after 40,100 (±1700) years ago. Megafauna fossils preserved alongside leaves, seeds, pollen and insects, indicate a sclerophyllous forest with heathy understorey that was home to aquatic and terrestrial carnivorous reptiles and megaherbivores, including the world’s largest kangaroo. Megafauna species ersity is greater compared to southern sites of similar age, which is contrary to expectations if extinctions followed proposed migration routes for people across Sahul. Our results do not support rapid or synchronous human-mediated continental-wide extinction, or the proposed timing of peak extinction events. Instead, megafauna extinctions coincide with regionally staggered spatio-temporal deterioration in hydroclimate coupled with sustained environmental change.

Geochemical investigation of the South Wellesley Island wetlands: Insight into wetland development during the Holocene in tropical northern Australia

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Date: 28-09-2017

DOI: 10.1177/0959683616670219

Abstract: The South Wellesley Islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia, were the recent focus of a palynological investigation which found vegetation change during the Holocene was driven by coastal progradation and regional climate. Here, we present new elemental data from x-ray fluorescence core scanning which provides non-destructive, continuous and high resolution analysis from three wetlands across Bentinck Island, the largest of the South Wellesley Islands. Elemental data and grain size analyses are combined with lead-210 ( 210 Pb) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) carbon-14 ( 14 C) dates. An open coastal environment was present 1250 cal. a BP on the south east coast of Bentinck Island, with sediment supply incorporating fluvial deposition and detrital input of titanium and iron from eroding lateritic bedrock. Prograding shorelines, dune development and river ersion formed a series of swales parallel to the coast by ~800 cal. a BP, forming the Marralda wetlands. Wetlands developed at sites on the north and west coasts ~500 and ~450 cal. a BP, respectively. Geochemical and grain size analyses indicate that wetlands formed as accreting tidal mudflats or within inter-dune swales that intercepted groundwater draining to the coastal margins. The timing of wetland initiation indicates localised late-Holocene sea level regression, stabilisation and coastal plain development in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Elemental data provide new records of wetland development across Bentinck Island, highlighting the value of a multi-proxy approach to understanding environmental change during the Holocene in tropical northern Australia.

Late Pleistocene history of turbidite sedimentation in a submarine canyon off the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 05-2012

DOI: 10.1016/J.PALAEO.2012.02.034

Early Human Occupation of Australia’s Eastern Seaboard

Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC

Date: 25-04-2023

DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-2843483/V1

Abstract: The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.

A 25,000-year record of environmental change from Welsby Lagoon, North Stradbroke Island, in the Australian subtropics

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 08-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUAINT.2017.04.011

Understanding past climate variation and environmental change for the future of an iconic landscape – K'gari Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia

Publisher: Informa UK Limited

Date: 18-03-2015

DOI: 10.1080/14486563.2014.1002120

Cascading effects of cyclones on the biodiversity of Southwest Pacific islands

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 2016

DOI: 10.1016/J.BIOCON.2015.11.022

An assessment of potential responses of Melaleuca genus to global climate change

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 31-05-2012

DOI: 10.1007/S11027-012-9394-2

Palaeoenvironmental change in tropical Australasia over the last 30,000 years - a synthesis by the OZ-INTIMATE group

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 08-2013

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2012.11.027

Land-use change and socio-ecological drivers of wetland conversion in Ha Tien Plain, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 05-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.LANDUSEPOL.2017.02.019

Untangling geochronological complexity in organic spring deposits using multiple dating methods

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 02-2018

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUAGEO.2017.10.002

Ground penetrating radar observations of present and former coastal environments, great Sandy National Park, Queensland, Australia - Focus on Moon Point, Fraser Island

Publisher: Coastal Education and Research Foundation

Date: 03-03-2016

DOI: 10.2112/SI75-147.1

14.26 Palynology and Its Application to Geomorphology

Publisher: Elsevier

Date: 2013

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-374739-6.00395-X

A new species of Protophyllocladoxylon from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) portion of the Winton Formation, central-western Queensland, Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 09-2014

DOI: 10.1016/J.REVPALBO.2014.05.004

Nineteenth and twentieth century sea-level changes in Tasmania and New Zealand

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 2012

DOI: 10.1016/J.EPSL.2011.08.046

Climatic variability in the southwest Pacific during the Last Termination (20-10 kyr BP)

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 05-2006

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2005.09.007

The last glacial cycle from the humid tropics of northeastern Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 2000

DOI: 10.1016/S0031-0182(99)00099-1

A review of the drivers of 200 years of wetland degradation in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 05-05-2016

DOI: 10.1007/S10113-016-0941-3

Persistence of wetlands on North Stradbroke Island (south-east Queensland, Australia) during the last glacial cycle: implications for Quaternary science and biogeography

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 08-2017

DOI: 10.1002/JQS.2981

Climatic and environmental variability during the termination of the Last Glacial Stage in coastal eastern Australia: a review

Publisher: Informa UK Limited

Date: 08-2011

DOI: 10.1080/08120099.2011.566281

Regional and local vegetation community dynamics of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands (British Columbia – Washington State) from palynology

Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing

Date: 02-2005

DOI: 10.1139/E04-095

Abstract: Palynofloras from the middle Early to early Middle Eocene Okanagan Highlands (northern Washington State and southern British Columbia) are used to reconstruct vegetation across a broad upland Eocene landscape. In this preliminary report, forest floristic composition is reconstructed using palynological analysis of sediments from Republic, Washington localities of the Allenby Formation in the Princeton region (Hospital Hill, One Mile Creek and Summers Creek Road), Hat Creek, McAbee, Falkland, Horsefly, and Driftwood Canyon, British Columbia. Wind-dispersed taxa were dominant in all s les, consistent with floras preserved in lacustrine and paludal depositional environments. Pseudolarix was dominant in five of the floras, but Abies (Falkland) or Ulmus (Republic Corner Lot site) were dominant in in idual s les for some floras. Betulaceae were dominant for McAbee (Alnus) and Allenby Formation (Betula), matching megafloral data for these sites. Some taxa common to most sites suggest cool conditions (e.g., Abies, other Pinaceae Alnus, other Betulaceae). However, all floras contained a substantive broad-leaved deciduous element (e.g., Fagaceae, Juglandaceae) and conifers (e.g., Metasequoia) indicative of mesothermal conditions. Palms were only abundant in the Hat Creek coal flora, with very low counts recorded for the Falkland, McAbee, and Allenby Formation sites, suggesting that they were rare in much of the landscape and likely restricted to specialized habitats. Thermophilic (principally mesothermal) taxa, including palms (five sites) and "taxodiaceous" conifers, may have occurred at their climatic limits. The limiting factor controlling the regional distribution of thermophilic flora, which include primarily wetlands taxa, may be either climatic or edaphic.

A window into mid-latitudinal Early Eocene environmental variability: a high-resolution palynological analysis of the Falkland site, Okanagan Highlands, British Columbia, Canada

Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing

Date: 06-2016

DOI: 10.1139/CJES-2015-0167

Abstract: A series of Eocene lake shale deposits from British Columbia, coined the Okanagan Highlands, are dated from associated volcanic ash as mostly from the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), the longest persisting of the early Paleogene hyperthermals. In this report we focus on high-resolution palynological s ling of short sequences for the Falkland site to determine if they record centennial- or millennial-scale vegetation change during the EECO. The Falkland shales consist of alternating dark- and light-coloured irregular laminae, along with interleaved tephras from volcanic eruptions. At this site it is apparent that deposition occurred over several millennia. Pollen grains were counted under light microscopy using a standard transect method, with clustering analysis determining whether the data show any long-term trends in plant representation and abundance. Our data show that regional vegetation was impacted by millennial- to centennial-scale climatic variability, as well as the effects of volcanic eruptions. At Falkland there appears to be alterations in vegetation assemblages (birch – golden larch association to fir–spruce) that reflect longer-term (centennial to millennial) climatic transitions (warm/wet to cool/dry). Within this sequence, a period of environmental disturbance (reflected in the presence of multiple volcanic ash layers, wave ripple marks, and a fish-kill layer) has a marked impact on vegetation representation, with a dramatic increase in Abies and Picea pollen at the expense of Alnus and Betula, which do eventually recover. These results suggest mid-latitude millennial-scale climate oscillations in the waning period of the EECO of a similar magnitude to Holocene variability.

A review of the Australian-New Zealand sector of the Southern Ocean over the last 30ka (Aus-INTIMATE project)

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 08-2013

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2012.07.018

Coherent patterns of environmental change at multiple organic spring sites in northwest Australia: Evidence of Indonesian-Australian summer monsoon variability over the last 14,500 years

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 09-2018

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2018.07.018

Late Quaternary cycles of mangrove development and decline on the north Australian continental shelf

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 08-1999

DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(199908)14:5<465::AID-JQS473>3.0.CO;2-E

An Island of Green in the Sunburnt Country: The Rainforest of the Humid Tropics of Northeastern Australia and Their Response to Quaternary Environmental Change

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 11-2008

DOI: 10.1111/J.1749-8198.2008.00185.X

Assessing changes in global fire regimes

Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Date: 08-02-2023

DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.07.527551

Abstract: Human activity has fundamentally altered wildfire on Earth, creating serious consequences for human health, global bio ersity, and climate change. However, it remains difficult to predict fire interactions with land use, management, and climate change, representing a serious knowledge gap and vulnerability. We used expert assessment to combine opinions about past and future fire regimes from 98 wildfire researchers. We asked for quantitative and qualitative assessments of the frequency, type, and implications of fire regime change from the beginning of the Holocene through the year 2300. Respondents indicated that direct human activity was already influencing wildfires locally since at least ~ 12,000 years BP, though natural climate variability remained the dominant driver of fire regime until around 5000 years BP. Responses showed a ten-fold increase in the rate of wildfire regime change during the last 250 years compared with the rest of the Holocene, corresponding first with the intensification and extensification of land use and later with anthropogenic climate change. Looking to the future, fire regimes were predicted to intensify, with increases in fire frequency, severity, and/or size in all biomes except grassland ecosystems. Fire regime showed quite different climate sensitivities across biomes, but the likelihood of fire regime change increased with higher greenhouse gas emission scenarios for all biomes. Bio ersity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services were predicted to decrease for most biomes under higher emission scenarios. We present recommendations for adaptation and mitigation under emerging fire regimes, concluding that management options are seriously constrained under higher emission scenarios.

Climate variability during the Last Glacial Maximum in eastern Australia: evidence of two stadials?

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 12-2008

DOI: 10.1002/JQS.1186

Modelling changes in the distribution of the critical food resources of a specialist folivore in response to climate change

Publisher: Wiley

Date: 22-02-2012

DOI: 10.1111/J.1472-4642.2012.00881.X

An extended Last Glacial Maximum in subtropical Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 03-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUAINT.2015.11.015

Author Correction: Expert assessment of future vulnerability of the global peatland carbon sink

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 21-01-2021

DOI: 10.1038/S41558-021-00991-1

Late Quaternary vegetation history of North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, eastern Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 08-2013

DOI: 10.1016/J.QUASCIREV.2013.02.019

University Of Queensland

Location: Australia

View Organisation

Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP0990124

Start Date: 12-2009

End Date: 12-2011

Amount: $200,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP170100544

Start Date: 06-2019

End Date: 06-2019

Amount: $562,059.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP230101273

Start Date: 03-2024

End Date: 03-2027

Amount: $582,031.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0986579

Start Date: 2009

End Date: 12-2012

Amount: $443,685.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE140100088

Start Date: 2014

End Date: 12-2014

Amount: $150,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP150103875

Start Date: 2015

End Date: 06-2018

Amount: $381,140.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP210200704

Start Date: 12-2022

End Date: 12-2025

Amount: $260,820.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989067

Start Date: 2009

End Date: 06-2010

Amount: $950,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP220100561

Start Date: 09-2022

End Date: 09-2025

Amount: $404,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP170100242

Start Date: 03-2019

End Date: 12-2024

Amount: $460,429.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100053

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 12-2018

Amount: $358,031.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100185

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 12-2019

Amount: $464,531.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP120103179

Start Date: 04-2012

End Date: 04-2015

Amount: $450,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council