The late pleistocene and holocene vegetation history of Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

Abstract Pollen diagrams are presented from four lowland Taranaki sites which collectively span the last 13 000 years. Atc. 13000 years ago, lowland Taranaki was occupied by an open grassland in which shrubland was restricted and forest scarce. Beginning c. 12 500 years ago, there was a rapid transition, essentially complete by 11 000 years ago, to tall complex conifer/broad-leaved forest in which Prumnopitys taxifolia was the most abundant tall tree. By 9500 years ago, the last of the cool temperate forest elements (most notably Nothofagus menziesii and Libocedrus bidwillii) had been eliminated from the forest, and Dacrydium cupressinum had supplanted Prumnopitys taxifolia as the most abundant tall podocarp tree. In coastal regions, Ascarina lucida and Dodonaea viscosa were abundant. From 5000 years ago, Ascarina lucida and Dodonaea became much less common, and Ascarina lucida is now nearly extinct in the Taranaki region. Knightia excels a and Lagarostrobos colensoi spread during the late Holocene. The e...