This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Bickford, S. Articles by Hancock, G. J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Wetland and terrestrial vegetation change since European settlement on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

School of Geography and Environmental Science, PO Box 11A, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Victoria 3800, Australia, Sophie.Bickford{at}arts.monash.edu.au

Peter Gell

Geographical and Environmental Studies, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5005, Australia

Gary J. Hancock

CSIRO, Land and Water, GPO Box 1600, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Microfossil, sediment and documentary records provide a history of European land use and its impact on the vegetation of the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. Two sedimentary cores were analysed for their fossil pollen and charcoal composition. Chronologies were established using a combination of ²¹⁰Pb, ¹⁴C and microfossil markers. Primary and secondary evidence for the spatial expansion of land uses in the region were compiled providing local-, bioregional- and regional-scaled European settlement histories. The settlement and land-use histories of the major vegetation types in the region were different and were closely determined by the nature of the vegetation itself. The sedimentary and microfossil records indicate that wetland and terrestrial vegetation have undergone sequential changes of composition. There is evidence of a decline in fire-sensitive understorey species and the decline is likely due to intensive firing and grazing of scleropyllous woodlands and forests early in European settlement. Early-settlement native forestry practices were intensive, however they did not alter overstorey tree composition. Mid-twentieth-century wholesale vegetation clearance is clearly marked in the pollen record by a decline in Eucalyptus and increase in herbaceous species. Wetland vegetation was highly impacted by European land practices through changes to sediment inputs and hydrological conditions that began prior to catchment clearance, during the phase of intensive firing and grazing. Through the integration of multiscaled, ecosystem-specific historical settlement histories and palaeoecological analysis, correlations between past land uses and biotic responses can be confidently demonstrated.

Key Words: European impact • historical land use • historical vegetation reconstruction • Fleurieu Peninsula • palaeoecology • late Holocene • Australia.

The Holocene, Vol. 18, No. 3, 425-436 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683607087932


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?