FIRE DYNAMICS OF AUSTRALIAN RAINFORESTS DETERMINED FROM FINE-RESOLUTION POLLEN, CHARCOAL AND TREE-RING ANALYSIS

In recent years there has been an increasing integration of neo-ecological and palaeoecological studies of ecosystem dynamics. In this study we explore the potential of combining fine-resolution palaeoecological and dendrochronological methods at the same locality to investigate the impacts of fire, climate change, and anthropogenic disturbance on tropical and temperate rainforest vegetation in Australia at decadal to century timescales during the Holocene. Lake sediment mud-water interface cores have been collected from Lake Euramoo on the Atherton Tablelands of northern Queensland and from a lake in the Central Highlands of Tasmania, Australia. Sediments have been analysed for pollen and charcoal content. Dendrochronological analysis of tree cores collected from stands of Araucaria cunninghammii and Athrotaxis cupressoides, close to the lake sites were incorporated into the study. The combined analysis shows that the present mosaic of vegetation types in this region is a complex function of environmental changes across a range of timescales: millennial climate change, short-term climatic variations associated with El Niño events, and a shift from indigenous to “European” land use practices.