New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract
B96038
Received 3 July 1996; accepted 29 September 1997
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1998, Vol. 36: 91-111
0028-825X/98/3601-091 $7.00 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1998
Dryland Holocene vegetation history, Central Otago and the Mackenzie Basin,
South Island, New Zealand
M. S. MCGLONE
N. T. MOAR
Landcare Research
P. O. Box 69
Lincoln, New Zealand
Abstract Pollen and charcoal analyses are presented from
three south-central South Island Holocene age deposits. A spring bog site in
the Idaburn Valley records small-leaved
Olearia scrub and grassland in
its immediate vicinity from c. 7100 yr B.P., when peat growth began, to
5000 yr B.P. After that date the valley bottom vegetation became increasingly
short and open, and the bog ceased growing, probably as a result of
increasingly droughty summers. The adjacent hilly country supported a
forest/scrub cover of
Podocarpus hallii,
Phyllocladus alpinus,
Halocarpus bidwillii, and small-leaved shrubs. A site in the Mackenzie
Basin near Lake Pukaki recorded near total dominance by
Phyllocladus
alpinus scrub from c. 8000 yr B.P. until 5000 yr B.P. after which time
Halocarpus bidwillii,
Aciphylla, and grassland became
increasingly important in response to drought and local fires. At a third site,
again in the Mackenzie Basin,
Halocarpus bidwillii formed a complete
scrub cover at the time of Maori settlement at about 800-600 yr B.P. but fire
then rapidly reduced the scrub to grassland. On the evidence of these and other
southern South Island vegetation history records, the early Holocene appears to
have had a relatively stable climate with moist summers. From 5000 yr B.P. on,
evidence for drought and fire point to drier summers and unstable,
ENSO-affected climates.
Keywords Phyllocladus alpinus; Halocarpus
bidwillii; scrub; fire; charcoal; drought; climate change; Central Otago;
Mackenzie Basin; Holocene
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