Holocene variability in semi-arid vegetation: new evidence from Leporillusmiddens from the Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Twenty-seven Leporillus spp. (stick-nest rat) middens provide palaeoecologi cal evidence with good spatial coverage across the northern and central Fli nders Ranges, South Australia, for three Holocene time slices: 7-5 ka, 4-2 ka and <1 ka. Plant macrofossils and faecal pellets from middens were AMS r adiocarbon dated, and pollen and plant macrofossils were used to reconstruc t vegetation histories. Woodland and shrubland communities with herbaceous understoreys were dominant around 7-5 ka in the northern ranges, and shrubl ands with an understorey of herbaceous taxa and chenopods were dominant in the central ranges. Warmer, wetter and more homogeneous conditions than pre sent are indicated during this period. Shrubland communities declined in th e central ranges during the period 4-2 ka with increasing aridity, to be re placed by chenopod shrublands with a less diverse component of herbaceous t axa in the understorey. Chenopod shrublands continued to increase from 1 ka to present in the central ranges. In the more sheltered topography of the northern ranges, shrublands persisted from 4-2 ka, and some woodland and sh rublands remain through to present. Present spatial variability in the vege tation is a feature of the last thousand years or so (possibly longer in th e central ranges), compared with less variability in the early to mid-Holoc ene.