A comparison of late Quaternary forest changes in New Caledonia and northeastern Australia

Auteurs :
STEVENSON, J.
HOPE, G.

Description :
A pollen record from Lake Xere Wapo, southeast New Caledonia, is the longest continuous terrestrial record to be recovered from the tropical southwest Pacific and reveals a series of millennial scale changes in vegetation over the last 130,000 yr. A comparison of the Lake Xere Wapo record with the key northeast Australian record of Lynch's Crater reveals regional patterns of change. From 120,000 to 50,000 yr ago the vegetation around Lake Xere Wapo alternated between rainforest and maquis with fire an important disturbance factor. In the last 50,000 yr fire is almost absent from the record. With no human population until 3000 yr ago, Lake Xere Wapo will be a key site for assessing the influence of increasing climatic variability on tropical landscapes.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Quaternary research, issn : 0033-5894, 2005, vol. 64, n°. 3, p. 372-383, nombre de pages : 12, Collation : Illustration, Références bibliographiques : 34 ref.

Date :
2005

Editeur :
Pays édition : Etats-Unis, San Diego, CA, Elsevier