Vegetation changes and their climatic implication for the late Pleistocene at Lake Poukawa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

A detailed vegetation history extending back to the Last Interglacial (Marine Isotope Substage 5e) is presented for Lake Poukawa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. This history is based on palynological analyses of a 198-m core record, age secured by uranium/thorium (U/Th) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates as well as tephrochronology. Vegetation of the penultimate glacial (Isotope Stage 6) probably consisted of a very sparse shrubby herbland of stunted podocarps (Phyllocladus sp.), daisies, grasses and sedges. Similar floras existed in each of the succeeding cool periods. Four interglacial/interstadial floras are preserved. The peak of the Last Interglacial (Substage 5e) was dominated by extensive lowland forest of tall forest podocarps (Podocarpus/Prumnopitys), most probably matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia) with red beech (Nothofagus fusca), secondary forest trees (Coprosma spp., Myrsine spp.) and tree ferns (Cyathea spp.). In the Poukawa basin itself, a swamp forest of the podocarp (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) with the true palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) expanded. Substage 5e was significantly warmer and/or moister than the present day. Substage 5c/5a was marked by montane forest of red and silver beeches (N. fusca and N. menziesii), Phyllocladus spp. and secondary trees. A reduced representation of Podocarpus/Prumnopitys possibly consists of montane podocarp (Podocarpus hallii). We infer the temperature of Substage 5c/5a to have been 3.5–5 °C lower than the present day. Although Stage 3 flora are superficially similar to those of Substage 5c/5a, the beeches are relatively less dominant. The regional flora during Stage 1 is very similar to those of Substage 5e, but the density is lower with no swamp forest during the present interglaciation. This may represent a change in evapotranspiration balance around Poukawa, but may also be controlled by hydrological conditions within the basin.     

Phytolith analysis and paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Lake Poukawa Core, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

As part of a multiproxy investigation, phytoliths were extracted from sediments in a 197-m core in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. They provide a continuous vegetation–climate record spanning the time period from at least the last interglacial (marine oxygen isotope stage 5) to the present. The phytolith record demonstrates that grass/cyperaceae grew during warmer periods and woody taxa dominated the site during colder periods.During the present interglacial, the Poukawa basin is occupied by a shallow lake surrounded by an extensive fen. During colder–drier periods, the floor of the basin dried out and woody taxa occupied the basin floor. This contrasts with the pollen record, which demonstrates a converse pattern. The apparent discrepancy reflects the purely local provenance of the phytolith assemblage.Significant changes in phytolith assemblages occur at the same depth as major tephras, indicating a sharp decline in trees and shrubs and a surge in grass and cyperaceae. A series of successional changes follow each major tephra fall. Initially, the woody taxa are killed off and replaced by grass and cyperaceae that rapidly colonise the fresh surface. Trees and or shrubs succeed the grass and cyperaceae after a significant lag.     

Late Glacial beech forest: an 18,000–5000-BP pollen record from Auckland, New Zealand

Australia, New Zealand and South America are the main sources of terrestrial climate change records for midlatitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. The advantage of studying the New Zealand record is that its vegetation has been subject to human influence for only the last thousand years. Vegetation records for Auckland are important because earlier work indicates that during the Last Glacial Maximum, the boundary between scrubland and forest lay in the Auckland region. Auckland is situated in a volcanic field and the coring site was in the crater of a small extinct volcano (Crater Hill, formed about 29 ka BP). The 4-m long core contained sediment dating from c. 5 to c. 18 ka BP. We present pollen and diatom records from this core.The pollen records from basal clays indicate southern beech forest (mainly Nothofagus menziesii) was present in the region around Crater Hill from 18 to 14.5 ka BP. At this time, there were areas of scrub in the crater surrounding a hardwater lake. The southern forest limit could well have been close to the site. Records from overlying peat indicate beech forest was replaced by Podocarp broadleaf forest as the Last Glacial ended. Metrosideros spp. (coastal forest trees) peak in the early Holocene. This coincides with an impoverished diatom flora which indicates drier conditions in the basin. When the lake reformed in the Holocene on peat its water was more acidic.     

Vegetation and climate variability during the Last Interglacial evidenced in the pollen record from Lake Baikal

A pollen record from the core sediments collected in the northern part of Lake Baikal represents the latest stage of the Taz (Saale) Glaciation, Kazantsevo (Eemian) Interglacial (namely the Last Interglacial), and the earliest stage of the Zyryanka (Weichselian) Glaciation. According to the palaeomagnetic-based age model applied to the core, the Last Interglacial in the Lake Baikal record lasted about 10.6 ky from 128 to 117.4 ky BP, being more or less synchronous with the Marine Isotope Stage 5e. The reconstructed changes in the south Siberian vegetation and climate are summarised as follows: a major spread of shrub alder (Alnus fruticosa) and shrub birches (Betula sect. Nanae/Fruticosae) in the study area was a characteristic feature during the late glacial phase of the Taz Glaciation. Boreal trees e.g. spruce (Picea obovata) and birch (Betula sect. Albae) started to play an important role in the regional vegetation with the onset of the interglacial conditions. Optimal conditions for Abies sibirica–P. obovata taiga development occurred ca. 126.3 ky BP. The maximum spread of birch forest-steppe communities took place at the low altitudes ca. 126.5–125.5 ky BP and Pinus sylvestris started to form forests in the northern Baikal area after ca. 124.4 ky BP. Re-expansion of the steppe communities, as well as shrubby alder and willow communities and the disappearance of forest vegetation occurred at about 117.4 ky BP, suggesting the end of the interglacial succession. The changes in the pollen assemblages recorded in the sediments from northern Baikal point to a certain instability of the interglacial climate. Three phases of climate deterioration have been distinguished: 126–125.5, 121.5–120, and 119.5–119 ky BP. The penultimate cooling signal may be correlated with the cool oscillation recorded in European pollen records. However, such far distant correlation requires more careful investigation.     

A late Quaternary lake record from the Qilian Mountains (NW China): evolution of the primary production and the water depth reconstructed from macrofossil, pollen, biomarker, and isotope data

The history (45–0 ka BP) of the aquatic vegetation composition of the shallow alpine Lake Luanhaizi from the NE Tibetan Plateau is inferred from aquatic plant macrofossil frequencies and aquatic pollen and algae concentrations in the sediments. C/N (range: 0.3–100), δ¹³C (range: −28 to −15‰), and n-alkane measurements yielded further information on the quantitative composition of sedimentary organic matter. The inferred primary production of the former lake ecosystem has been examined in respect of the alternative stable state theory of shallow lakes [Scheffer, M., 1989. Alternative stable states in eutrophic, shallow freshwater systems: a minimal model. Hydrobiological Bulletin 23, 73–83]. Switches between clear and turbid water conditions are explained by a colder climate and forest decline in the catchment area of Lake Luanhaizi. The macrofossil-based reconstruction of past water depth and salinity ranges, as well as other organic matter (OM) proxies allowed climatic inferences of the summer monsoon intensity during the late Quaternary. Around 45 ka BP, conditions similar to or even moister than present-day climate occurred. The Lake Luanhaizi record is further evidence against an extensive glaciation of the Tibetan Plateau and its bordering mountain ranges during the Last Glacial Maximum. Highest lake levels and consequently a strong summer monsoon are recorded for the early Holocene period, while gradually decreasing lake levels are reconstructed for the middle and late Holocene.