The Holocene History of the Vegetation and the Environment of Jibbon Swamp, Royal National Park, New South Wales

Jibbon Swamp, in the north eastern part of Royal National Park, yielded a sedimentary history of 8,000 years. The present vegetation was mapped and the modern pollen deposition studied in order to assist interpretation. The palynology infers little change in the vegetation, other than a shifting mosaic of sclerophyllous communities similar to those seen in the area today.The nature of the accumulating sediments and their algal and fungal spore content can be interpreted to reflect the hydrological history of the swamp. An initial establishment period of 8,000 to 5,500 year ago was followed by a permanent pool of water too deep for the sedgeland swamp vegetation, from 5,500 to 2,400 years ago and then a vegetated swamp that dried out periodically, from 2,400 years ago to present, as it does today. Changes in the sediments and algae/fungi record suggest a wetter early Holocene and a drier mid-late Holocene climate, with an intensification of the dry periods about 2,500 years ago. This pattern of change seems to reflect regional climatic change. There is very little change in the less sensitive sclerophyllous vegetation. The likely impact of rising Holocene sea levels on this near-coastal environment is discussed

The Lantern Vol. 21, No. 3, Summer 1953

• Millie and Murph • Waxy • Nor Bars a Prison Make • The Shows at Killapoorsparrow • Sahonnet to a Mahodern Sahinger • In Each Man: A Collection • Mirrors • The Offspring of My Song • Come Sweet Night • A Modern Ballad • Uninvitedhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1060/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 21, No. 2, Spring 1953

• Package from the Past • Objective Abstraction No. 1 • The Streetlamp • Journey Home • Rendezvous • The Admonition • Easter Thought • Summer Thought • The Understanders • Nocturne • Night and the City • Study in Shadow • Southern Mountain Song • The Introvert • Conflict • A Moment in Flight • Hiatus • Night Search • To a Cat • Lines to a Rejected Contributor • The Old Professorhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1059/thumbnail.jp

The pollen morphology of some co-occurring species of the family Myrtaceae from the Sydney region

Volume: 115Start Page: 163End Page: 19

Modern Pollen Deposition under Vegetation of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales

Volume: 130Start Page: 111End Page: 13

A 38,000 Year History of the Vegetation at Penrith Lakes, New South Wales

Volume: 129Start Page: 97End Page: 11

The late quaternary vegetation and climatic history of the Blue Mountains, N.S.W., Australia

A review of the literature relevant to the Late Quaternary environmental history of the highland region of New South Wales has been undertaken. Studies of Quaternary vegetation history in Australia have been hampered by the difficulty in identifying the pollen of the major family which dominates the south-eastern portion of the continent, the Myrtaceae. Few long palynological records have been published from sites in N.S.W. and thus data over 25 000 years old is sparse. Studies concerning climatic change in the Holocene period are hampered by the small amplitude of possible changes and considerable controversy is revealed in the literature. Pollen analysis of sediment cores from a series of swamps in an altitudinal sequence across the Blue Mountains was undertaken. The altitude change across the study region is associated with a strong climatic gradient and thus these sites were sensitive to small scale climatically induced changes in the vegetation which were recorded in the pollen spectra. The study region is dominated by species of the family Myrtaceae and in order to analyse vegetation change, it was necessary to develop a method to identify dispersed pollen of this family to species level. The reference collection enabled identification of 79% of the dispersed Myrtaceae types of pollen. A vegetation, charcoal and environmental history of the local area immediately surrounding each of the eight swamps in the study has been reconstructed. The information from all of these sites has been combined to produce a climatic history of the study region. One site has a basal date of 34 000 BP and, thus a new long palynological record is included in this study. From this long palynological record it was concluded that temperatures reached a minimum of approximately 7.6\sp\circC below modern values in the coldest month and approximately 9.4\sp\circC below modern in the hottest month between 34 000 BP and 32 000 BP. A series of small fluctuations in effective precipitation between 11 000 BP and the present have been demonstrated and a model for these oscillations proposed. Some analysis of the relationship between climate and vegetation change and the charcoal record has been undertaken. A discussion concerning the relationship between climate change and vegetation change is included