Persistence of wetlands on North Stradbroke Island (south-east Queensland, Australia) during the last glacial cycle: implications for Quaternary science and biogeography
Corresponding Author
J. Tibby
Geography, Environment and Population and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Correspondence: J. Tibby, as above.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorC. Barr
Geography, Environment and Population and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJ. C. Marshall
Water Planning Ecology, Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, Australia
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorG. B. McGregor
Water Planning Ecology, Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorP. T. Moss
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorL. J. Arnold
School of Physical Science, Environment Institute, Sprigg Geobiology Centre and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorT. J. Page
Water Planning Ecology, Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, Australia
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorD. Questiaux
School of Physical Science, Environment Institute, Sprigg Geobiology Centre and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJ. Olley
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJ. Kemp
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorN. Spooner
School of Physical Science, Environment Institute, Sprigg Geobiology Centre and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorL. Petherick
School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, University of Wellington, New Zealand
Search for more papers by this authorD. Penny
Geoscience Department, University of Sydney, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorS. Mooney
School of School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
J. Tibby
Geography, Environment and Population and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Correspondence: J. Tibby, as above.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorC. Barr
Geography, Environment and Population and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJ. C. Marshall
Water Planning Ecology, Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, Australia
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorG. B. McGregor
Water Planning Ecology, Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorP. T. Moss
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorL. J. Arnold
School of Physical Science, Environment Institute, Sprigg Geobiology Centre and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorT. J. Page
Water Planning Ecology, Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, Australia
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorD. Questiaux
School of Physical Science, Environment Institute, Sprigg Geobiology Centre and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJ. Olley
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJ. Kemp
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorN. Spooner
School of Physical Science, Environment Institute, Sprigg Geobiology Centre and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorL. Petherick
School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, University of Wellington, New Zealand
Search for more papers by this authorD. Penny
Geoscience Department, University of Sydney, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorS. Mooney
School of School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorABSTRACT
Few Australian wetlands have persisted since the Last Glacial Maximum, with fewer still in existence through the entire last glacial cycle. The absence of wetlands, which itself indicates periods of moisture deficit, means there are few continuous climate and environmental change records covering this critical period. The lack of wetland persistence also raises the question of how plant and animal species that require permanent wetlands survived the last glacial cycle. Sixteen wetlands have been cored and dated on North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) – a large east Australian sand island – with basal dates reported from 10 sites for the first time. These wetlands range in age to over 200 000 years old, with six dating to the Last Glacial Maximum or earlier. There is no evidence of a stratigraphic discontinuity in the radiocarbon-based age–depth profiles, suggesting continuous deposition of highly organic sediment through the period covered by these ages (c. 40 ka). The persistence of these wetlands suggests that for much of the last 40 000 years, and for perhaps much longer, the regional moisture balance has been positive. Over the last glacial cycle, persistently wet conditions may have provided a refuge from regional drying, and thus contributed to the high genetic diversity of rainforest plants in the region. Vegetation and climate records from these sites will allow hypothesis testing about the drivers of both local and regional climate variability. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Supporting Information
Additional supporting information related to this article may be found in the online version of this article.
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| jqs2981-sup-0001-SuppFig-S1.tif55 MB | Figure S1. Sediment stratigraphy and organic content for Brown Lake sediment core. |
| jqs2981-sup-0002-SuppFig-S2.tif20.8 MB | Figure S2. Radial plots of single grain De measurements from Brown Lake (a), Welsby Lagoon (b) and Fern Gully Lagoon (c) basal sands. |
| jqs2981-sup-0003-SuppTab-S1.xlsx16 KB | Table S1. Australian Pleistocene aged wetlands. Also shown is the record length and resolution. For many sites the resolution may be underestimated since the data were extracted from the Australasian charcoal database (Mooney et al., 2011). For sites not included in Mooney et al. (2011) the resolution is calculated assuming a centimetre sample resolution. |
| jqs2981-sup-0004-SuppTab-S2.docx15.1 KB | Table S2. Organic sediment depth in undated North Stradbroke Island wetlands. For these sites we have not calculated the depth to the regional water table and so they are not characterised as perched or otherwise. C = cored using a D-section. Values in parentheses are the number of cores taken or probings undertaken. Note that coring was only undertake at the edge of Amity Swamp and hence deeper sediments may exists in other parts of the wetland. |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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