The Use of Ecological Tolerances for the Reconstruction of Tertiary Palaeoclimates

Helene A. Martin

Abstract

The major vegetation types may be recognised from the pollen assemblage being deposited beneath them, hence the palaeovegetation may be reconstructed from fossil pollen assemblages. The climatic parameters of the vegetation may then be used to reconstruct palaeoclimates. The result, however, is very general. Most pollen types can only be affiliated with a family, a genus or a group of species and the ecological tolerances within these groups may not be uniform. There are, however, some distinctive pollen types that can be identified with a single living species and this paper examines the potential of these types in the reconstruction of palaeoclimates. Lagarostrobos franklinii (J.D.Hook) Quinn, Huon pine, has a long history and the fossil occurrences of it are compatible with the hypothesis that its ecological tolerances have not changed and it has always required very high humidity. Two sclerophyllous taxa,Eucalyptus spathulata Hook. and Dodonaea triquetra Wendl., however, coexisted with rainforest and then other vegetation types as the climate became drier, adapting to the prevailing conditions. The evidence suggests that the salt-tolerant E. spathulata may have evolved in small patches of coastal scrub, subjected to marine influence, within the dominant rainforest vegetation.

Australian Journal of Botany 45(3) 475 - 492 (1997) doi:10.1071/BT96037