AN EXPANDED RECENT POLLEN DATABASE FROM SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR REFINEMENT OF PALEOCLIMATIC ESTIMATES

Seventy-one pollen spectra from prior to the period of European impact were extracted from fossil pollen diagrams on mainland south-eastern Australia in 1991 to use as a modern reference for refinement of veget ation and climatic histories constructed from the region. This paper p resents results of an extension of this recent database to 135 spectra , derived from additional fossil pollen sites on the mainland and also from sites in Tasmania. The sites include those of almost all late Qu aternary pollen studies ever undertaken. Estimates of climate for each site, derived by BIOCLIM, have allowed an examination of patterns of representation of individual recorded taxa in relation to regional var iation in major climatic parameters. Pollen taxa show variable represe ntation in relation to their inferred presence and abundance in parent vegetation due to differential pollen production acid dispersal chara cteristics. However, patterns of pollen representation do appear to re late, in broad terms, to climatic variation. It is considered that thi s modern pollen and climate database should lead to more certain inter pretation of future pollen records including some quantification of pa laeoclimatic conditions.