Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T17:20:42.514Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How a Wet Tropical Rainforest Copes with Repeated Volcanic Destruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Leigh C.F. Jago  and
William E. Boyd
Leigh C.F. Jago
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Science and Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia
William E. Boyd
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Science and Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Holocene Period for the province of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, is characterised by periodic catastrophic volcanism. The region is mantled in dense wet tropical rainforest, and has been occupied by people since the Pleistocene. Analyses of peat from two nearby sites within a lowland rainforest environment provide us with a macro-level landscape account of the periodic destruction and recovery of the coastal forests during seven periods of volcanic activity in the latter part (∼2900 yr ago to present) of the Holocene. Radiocarbon dating shows the very close correlation of the peat and tephra layers at both sites, yet the pollen analysis reveals different vegetation communities. These initial results allow us to begin identifying the processes of recovery, and to recognise different ecological pressures placed on vegetation at these neighbouring sites. Evidence of hydrological changes are observed beginning with a marine incursion recorded at Garu Site 3 ∼1360 14C yr B.P. The distinct differences in the vegetation re-establishment and community regeneration rates suggest the greater level of disturbance at Garu Site 1 could be related to the depth of the ashfall, although the proximity of a known human settlement may also be a contributing factor. Of note, palynologically, we found that the fern spore flora is particularly rich and believe it will be useful for ecological interpretation.

Keywords

Pollen analysisVegetation historyVolcanic impactRainforestPeat swampHolocenePapua New Guinea
Type
Special issue articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , November 2005 , pp. 399 - 406
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, J.A.R., and Muller, J. (1975). Palynological study of a Holocene peat and a Miocene coal deposit from N.W. Borneo. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 19, 291–351.Google Scholar
Anshari, G., Kershaw, P., Der Kaars, S., and Jacobsen, G. (2004). Environmental change and peatland forest dynamics in the Lake Sentarum area, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Journal of Quaternary Science 19, 7 637–655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, W.E., Lentfer, C.J., and Luker, G.O. (1999). Environmental impacts of major catastrophic Holocene volcanic eruption in New Britain, P.N.G.: A preliminary model for palaeoenvironmental change. Geodiversity: Readings in Australian Geography at the Close of the 20th Century School of Geography and Oceanography. Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra.361–372.Google Scholar
Clunie, N.M.U. (1978). The vegetation.Womersley, J.S. Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea vol. 1, Melbourne Univ. Press, Melbourne.1–11.Google Scholar
Cotter, M.M., and Boyd, W.E. (1998). Fossil Pollen Extraction for Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction. A Method Manual. Southern Cross Univ. Press, Lismore, N.S.W., Australia.Google Scholar
Docters van Leeuwen, W.M. (1935). Op de toppen van den Goenoeng Kawi in Oost-Java. Levende Natur 40, 57–62.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., and Iversen, J. (1989). Textbook of Pollen Analysis.4th ed. Wiley, Chichester.Google Scholar
Floyd, A. (1954). Final report on ethnobotanical expedition–West Nakanai, New Britain, July–August 1954. Lae, Department of Forests, PNG.Google Scholar
S., Garrett-Jones (1979). Evidence for changes in Holocene vegetation and lake sedimentation in the Markham Valley, Papua New Guinea.PhD dissertation,Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Haberle, S. (1996). Explanations for palaeoecological changes on the northern plains of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands: the last 3200 years. The Holocene 6, 3 333–338.Google Scholar
Hope, G.S., and Tulip, J. (1994). A long vegetation history from lowland Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109, 385–398.Google Scholar
Horrocks, M., and Ogden, J. (1998). The effects of the Taupo Tephra eruption of c. 1718 BP on the vegetation of Mt Hauhungatahi, central North Island, New Zealand. Journal of Biogeography 25, 649–660.Google Scholar
Lentfer, C. (2003). Plants, people and landscapes in prehistoric Papua New Guinea: A Compendium of Phytolith (and Starch) Analysis.PhD dissertation.Southern Cross University, Lismore, N.S.W., Australia.Google Scholar
Lentfer, C., and Boyd, B. (2001). Maunten Paia: Volcanoes, People and Environment: The 1994 Rabaul Volcanic Eruptions. Southern Cross Univ. Press, N.S.W., Australia.Google Scholar
Machida, H., Blong, R.J., Specht, J., Moriwaki, H., Torrence, R., Hayakawa, Y., Talai, B., Lolok, D., and Pain, C.F. (1996). Holocene explosive eruptions of Witori and Dakataua caldera volcanoes in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Quaternary International 34–36, 65–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maloney, B.K. (1994). The prospects and problems of using palynology to trace the origins of tropical agriculture: the case of Southeast Asia.Hather, J.G. Tropical Archaeobotany and New Developments Routledge, London.139–171.Google Scholar
Moore, P.D., Webb, J.A., and Collinson, M.E. (1991). Pollen Analysis.2nd ed. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
R.J., Morley (1976). Vegetation Change in West Malesia During the Late Quaternary Period: a Palynological Study of Selected Lowland and Lower Montane Sites.PhD Dissertation,University of Hull, Hull.Google Scholar
Morley, R.J. (1981). Development and vegetation dynamics of a lowland ombrogenous peat swamp in Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia. Journal of Biogeography 8, 383–404.Google Scholar
Morley, R.J. (2000). Origin and Evolution of Tropical Forests. Wiley, Chichester.Google Scholar
Page, S.E., Rieley, J.O., Shotyk, W., and Weiss, D. (1999). Interdependence of peat and vegetation in a tropical swamp forest. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 354, 1885–1897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parr, J. (2003). A Study of Palaeo–Landscapes in the Numundo region of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, as indicated by Fossil Phytolith Analysis.PhD dissertation,Southern Cross University, Lismore, N.S.W., Australia.Google Scholar
P.G., Peekel (1984). Flora of the Bismarck Archipelago for naturalists.Translation E.E. Henty.Forests Division of Botany, Lae, PNG.Google Scholar
Stevenson, J. (2004). A late-Holocene record of human impact from the southwest coast of New Caledonia. The Holocene 14, 6 888–898.Google Scholar
Summerhayes, G.R., Bird, J.R., Fullagar, R., Gosden, C., Specht, J., and Torrence, R. (1998). Application of PIXE-PIGME to Archaeological Analysis of Changing Patterns of Obsidian Use in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea.Shackley, M.S. Archaeological Obsidian Studies Plenum Press, New York.129–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, I. (1996). Krakatau: The Destruction And Reassembly Of An Island Ecosystem. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Torrence, R., Specht, J., and Boyd, B. (1999). Archaeological fieldwork on Numundo and Garu Plantations, West New Britain, PNG.Technical Report,Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia.Google Scholar
Torrence, R., Pavlides, C., Jackson, P., and Webb, J. (2000). Volcanic disasters and cultural discontinuities in the Holocene of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea.McGuire, W.G., Griffiths, D.R., Handcock, P.L., Steward, I.S. The Archaeology of Geological Catastrophes, Geological Society Special Publications, London.225–244.Google Scholar
Torrence, R., Neall, V., Doelman, T., Rhodes, E., McKee, C., Davies, H., Bonetti, R., Guglielmetti, A., Manzoni, A., Oddone, M., Parr, J., and Wallace, C. (2004). Pleistocene colonisation of the Bismark Archipelago: new evidence from West New Britain. Archaeology in Oceania 39, 101–130.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T.C., and Burslem, D.F.R.P. (1998). Major disturbances in tropical rain forests.Newbery, D.M., Prins, H.H.T., Brown, N.D. Dynamics of Tropical Communities Blackwell Science, Oxford.549–565.Google Scholar
Wilmshurst, J.M., and McGlone, M.S. (1996). Forest disturbance in central North Island, New Zealand, following the 1850 BP Taupo eruption. The Holocene 6, 4 399–411.Google Scholar
Womersley, J.S. (1978). Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea vol. 1, Melbourne Univ. Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar