Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island
The stratigraphic relationships of palaeoecological proxies and use of changepoint analyses to determine the cause and effect relationships between past events has allowed a better understanding of the relative contributions of humans and environmental drivers to Late Quaternary extinctions and of t...
Published in: | Quaternary Science Reviews |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Elsevier
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37434 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.018 |
id |
ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/unsworks_37434 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/unsworks_37434 2024-05-12T08:03:13+00:00 Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island Wood, JR Wilmshurst, JM Turney, CSM Fogwill, CJ 2016-01-13 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37434 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.018 unknown Elsevier http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL100100195 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT120100004 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP120200724 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37434 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.018 metadata only access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_14cb CC-BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ urn:ISSN:1873-457X Quaternary Science Reviews, 134, 51-58 anzsrc-for: 04 Earth Sciences anzsrc-for: 21 History and Archaeology journal article http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2016 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.018 2024-04-17T15:57:29Z The stratigraphic relationships of palaeoecological proxies and use of changepoint analyses to determine the cause and effect relationships between past events has allowed a better understanding of the relative contributions of humans and environmental drivers to Late Quaternary extinctions and of their effects on terrestrial ecosystems. Few studies, however, have validated these approaches at localities where past interactions between vegetation communities and large herbivores are well-documented. Here, we use a peat core from subantarctic Enderby Island to present the first study tracing the spores of dung fungi alongside pollen at a site where the history of mammalian herbivore introductions (and subsequent eradication), and their effects on the vegetation, are precisely known. We find a strong connection be- tween spore influx rates of the dung-fungus Sporormiella and PCA axis 1 of the pollen assemblages, suggesting that past vegetation change caused by herbivore introductions and eradications at the core site can be readily deduced from the palaeoecological record. The response of the vegetation community to the removal of herbivores was so rapid, however, that a difference in timing between changepoints relating to specific pollen taxa, the overall pollen community, and the decline of Sporormiella spores, could not be resolved in our record, despite a sampling resolution of <5 years. We suggest that further case-studies, spanning different vegetation and herbivore communities, are required to provide increased confidence in inferences drawn about cause-and-effect relationships using proxy changepoint offsets in palaeoecological records. Article in Journal/Newspaper Enderby Island UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks Quaternary Science Reviews 134 51 58 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
unknown |
topic |
anzsrc-for: 04 Earth Sciences anzsrc-for: 21 History and Archaeology |
spellingShingle |
anzsrc-for: 04 Earth Sciences anzsrc-for: 21 History and Archaeology Wood, JR Wilmshurst, JM Turney, CSM Fogwill, CJ Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island |
topic_facet |
anzsrc-for: 04 Earth Sciences anzsrc-for: 21 History and Archaeology |
description |
The stratigraphic relationships of palaeoecological proxies and use of changepoint analyses to determine the cause and effect relationships between past events has allowed a better understanding of the relative contributions of humans and environmental drivers to Late Quaternary extinctions and of their effects on terrestrial ecosystems. Few studies, however, have validated these approaches at localities where past interactions between vegetation communities and large herbivores are well-documented. Here, we use a peat core from subantarctic Enderby Island to present the first study tracing the spores of dung fungi alongside pollen at a site where the history of mammalian herbivore introductions (and subsequent eradication), and their effects on the vegetation, are precisely known. We find a strong connection be- tween spore influx rates of the dung-fungus Sporormiella and PCA axis 1 of the pollen assemblages, suggesting that past vegetation change caused by herbivore introductions and eradications at the core site can be readily deduced from the palaeoecological record. The response of the vegetation community to the removal of herbivores was so rapid, however, that a difference in timing between changepoints relating to specific pollen taxa, the overall pollen community, and the decline of Sporormiella spores, could not be resolved in our record, despite a sampling resolution of <5 years. We suggest that further case-studies, spanning different vegetation and herbivore communities, are required to provide increased confidence in inferences drawn about cause-and-effect relationships using proxy changepoint offsets in palaeoecological records. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wood, JR Wilmshurst, JM Turney, CSM Fogwill, CJ |
author_facet |
Wood, JR Wilmshurst, JM Turney, CSM Fogwill, CJ |
author_sort |
Wood, JR |
title |
Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island |
title_short |
Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island |
title_full |
Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island |
title_fullStr |
Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic Enderby Island |
title_sort |
palaeoecological signatures of vegetation change induced by herbivory regime shifts on subantarctic enderby island |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37434 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.018 |
genre |
Enderby Island |
genre_facet |
Enderby Island |
op_source |
urn:ISSN:1873-457X Quaternary Science Reviews, 134, 51-58 |
op_relation |
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL100100195 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT120100004 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP120200724 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_37434 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.018 |
op_rights |
metadata only access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_14cb CC-BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.018 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
134 |
container_start_page |
51 |
op_container_end_page |
58 |
_version_ |
1798845323952521216 |