K-Ar dated palynofloras in Tasmania 1: Early Oligocene, Proteacidites tuberculatus Zone sediments, Wilmot Dam, northwestern Tasmania

Tertiaty lake sediments at Wilmot Dam, northwestern Tasmania, are dated as Lower Proteacidites tuberculatus Zone, based on the palynological zonation developed for the Gippsland Basin in eastern Bass Strait. The age limits of Early-Middle Oligocene for this zone are in excellent agreement with a K/Ar date of 26.7 Ma for basalts capping this deposit. Three new species are described: Tricolpites stylidioides, Mutisiapollis patersonii and Periporopollenites hexaporus. The first two appear to be the earliest records to date of Stylidiaceae and Mutisia (Asteraceae:tribe Mutisieae) respectively

A fossil bolster plant from the King River, Tasmania

A macrofossil of the alpine bolster plant Donatia novae-zelandiae was found in the King River Valley, approximately 230 m above sea level in central western Tasmania. The fossil was in situ on a palaeosol that appears to have formed immediately prior to the late Last Glacial Maximum. An age of 21 180 + 370 years b.p. was established by radiocarbon dating. Pollen and present day distributional data suggest that the tree line was then at least 750 m lower than at present, implying a temperature depression of about 4.5 0 C. Scanning electron-micrographs and photomicrographs of the extant and fossil bolster species are presented

Tropical palms and arums at near-polar latitudes: fossil pollen evidence from the Tamar and Macquarie grabens, northern Tasmania

We illustrate and discuss fossil pollen evidence for two mostly tropical extant plant families in the Tamar Valley, north of Launceston, northern Tasmania, and the Macquarie Harbour Graben on the west coast of Tasmania. These are palms (Arecaceae) producing disulcate pollen (Dicolpopollis spp.) and an incompletely zonisulcate pollen (Proxapertites cf. operculatus) identified as a fossil arum (Araceae). Both fossil pollen types add to the growing body of evidence that warm to hot conditions allowed tropical monocots belonging to these two families to grow at high palaeolatitudes (c. 65°S) during the Late Paleocene and/or Early Eocene in Tasmania and even closer to the pole (c. 70°S) during the Late Cretaceous in central and southern mainland Australia

Non-seasonal plant foods in the palawa (Tasmanian Aborigine) diet: 1: the Yam Daisy Microseris lanceolata (Walp.) Sch.Bip

The tuberous roots of the Yam Daisy/murnong Microseris lanceolata were a staple plant food for Indigenous peoples in Victoria and New South Wales. In contrast, although the Yam Daisy occurs in Tasmania, it is not recorded as being eaten by the Tasmanian Aborigines (palawa) although fossil Liguliflorae pollen indicate that this perennial herb was growing here before European occupation in 1805. Unlike in Victoria up to the 1840s, as yet, there is no fossil evidence to show the species was sufficiently common to make a significant non-seasonal contribution to the palawan diet. However, assuming an adequate supply of the tubers, the palawa could have obtained energy from the modest content of simple sugars (via glycolysis) and its substantial content of fructans (prebiotics, converted to absorbable fatty acids by gut bacteria). Its sweet taste at certain seasons may have encouraged seasonal consumption. Recent research suggests that fructans may have health benefits, e.g., improved immune function; however, it seems improbable that the palawa specifically recognised those benefit

Coastal erosion reveals a potentially unique Oligocene and possible periglacial sequence at present-day sea level in Port Davey, remote South-West Tasmania

Cut-back of a sea-cliff at Hannant Inlet in remote South-West Tasmania has exposed Oligocene clays buried under Late Pleistocene “colluvium” from which abundant wood fragments protrude. The two units are separated by a transitional interval defined by mixed Oligocene and Pleistocene microfloras. Microfloras preserved in situ in the clay provide a link between floras in Tasmania and other Southern Hemisphere landmasses following onset of major glaciation in East Antarctica during the Eocene-Oligocene transition (c. 34 Ma). The Late Pleistocene “colluvium” preserves abundant fossil pollen of the shrub conifer genus Pherosphaera (al. Microstrobos). Assuming the parent plants had the same upper subalpine-alpine ecology as living Pherosphaera hookeriana, the microflora provides evidence for cold, wet conditions in the Port Davey lowlands during a low sea-level stand. The same data highlight the failure of Pherosphaera to regain its Pleistocene distribution during the Postglacial period. Our data are inconclusive whether Late Pleistocene conditions in Hannant Inlet were periglacial, i.e., the Oligocene sediments were turbated by freeze-thaw processes, or have been reworked by fluvial processes into the Pleistocene “colluvium”. Nevertheless, the inferred cold-climate is consistent with the former hypothesis. The sequence is sealed under cross-bedded coarse quartzite gravels of presumed Last Glacial Stage age

Two fossil species of Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) from the Oligo-Miocene Golden Fleece locality in Tasmania, Australia

Premise of the Study: The capsular-fruited genus Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) is one of the most widely distributed flowering plant genera in the Pacific but is extinct in Australia today. The center of geographic origin for the genus and the reason for and timing of its extinction in Australia remain uncertain. We identify fossil Metrosideros fruits from the newly discovered Golden Fleece fossil flora in the Oligo-Miocene of Tasmania, Australia, shedding further light on these problems.Methods: Standard paleopalynological techniques were used to date the fossil-bearing sediments. Scanning electron microscopy and an auto-montage camera system were used to take high-resolution images of fossil and extant fruits taken from herbarium specimens. Fossils are identified using a nearestliving-relative approach.Key Results: The fossil-bearing sediments are palynostratigraphically dated as being Proteacidites tuberculatus Zone Equivalent (ca. 33-16 Ma) in age and provide a confident Oligo Miocene age for the macrofossils. Two new fossil species of Metrosideros are described and are here named Metrosideros dawsonii sp. nov. and Metrosideros wrightii sp. nov.Conclusions: These newly described fossil species of Metrosideros provide a second record of the genus in the Cenozoic of Australia, placing them in the late Early Oligocene to late Early Miocene. It is now apparent not only that Metrosideros was present in Australia, where the genus is now extinct, but that at least several Metrosideros species were present during the Cenozoic. These fossils further strengthen the case for an Australian origin of the genus

The influence of fine-scale topography on the impacts of Holocene fire in a Tasmanian montane landscape

Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Tasmania's montane temperate rainforests contain some of Australia's most ancient and endemic flora. Recent landscape-scale fires have impacted a significant portion of these rainforest ecosystems. The complex and rugged topography of Tasmania results in a highly variable influence of fire across the landscape, rendering predictions of ecosystem response to fire difficult. We assess the role of topographic variation in buffering the influence of fire in these endemic rainforest communities. We developed a new 14000-year (14-ka) palaeoecological dataset from Lake Perry, southern Tasmania, and compared it to neighbouring Lake Osborne

First evidence for Wollemi Pine-type pollen (Dilwynites: Araucariaceae) in South America

We report the first fossil pollen from South America of the lineage that includes the recently discovered, extremely rare Australian Wollemi Pine, Wollemia nobilis (Araucariaceae). The grains are from the late Paleocene to early middle Eocene Ligorio Márquez Formation of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina, and are assigned to Dilwynites, the fossil pollen type that closely resembles the pollen of modern Wollemia and some species of its Australasian sister genus, Agathis. Dilwynites was formerly known only from Australia, New Zealand, and East Antarctica. The Patagonian Dilwynites occurs with several taxa of Podocarpaceae and a diverse range of cryptogams and angiosperms, but not Nothofagus. The fossils greatly extend the known geographic range of Dilwynites and provide important new evidence for the Antarctic region as an early Paleogene portal for biotic interchange between Australasia and South America.Mike Macphail, Raymond J. Carpenter, Ari Iglesias, Peter Wil

Gender Differences in Mortality and CD4 Count Response Among Virally Suppressed HIV-Positive Patients

Treatment outcomes for antiretroviral therapy (ART) patients may vary by gender, but estimates from current evidence may be confounded by disease stage and adherence. We investigated the gender differences in treatment response among HIV-positive patients virally suppressed within 6 months of treatment initiation