Mid-late Holocene fire and vegetation change at a coastal site near Jervis Bay, Southeastern Australia

Abstract

The ecological history of Big Snake Waterhole and its surrounding landscape is reconstructed for the last 5,000 years through the analysis of sedimentary pollen and charcoal to provide a mid-late Holocene record in an area where few records currently exist. The data implies that Big Snake Waterhole has undergone a transition from a shallow, swampy environment to a waterhole of ~ five metres depth. The terrestrial pollen and charcoal data reveal a forested landscape that has undergone numerous ecological changes, which entail a transition to more open ecosystems resulting from an increasingly dry climate and possibly further amplified by Indigenous mosaic burning, particularly within the last 2,500 years. Since the commencement of British colonisation ~1820 CE, there appears to be a shift towards a novel ecosystem characterised by high biomass accumulation and a significant increase in fire activity resulting from post-colonial land management practices. This long-term perspective on ecological changes has the capacity to provide baseline information for land management and conservation decisions in the foreseeable future. Show more