Journal article
Elevated Southern Hemisphere moisture availability during glacial periods
R Weij, JMK Sniderman, JD Woodhead, JC Hellstrom, JR Brown, RN Drysdale, E Reed, S Bourne, J Gordon
Nature | Published : 2024
Abstract
Late Pleistocene ice-age climates are routinely characterized as having imposed moisture stress on low- to mid-latitude ecosystems1–5. This idea is largely based on fossil pollen evidence for widespread, low-biomass glacial vegetation, interpreted as indicating climatic dryness6. However, woody plant growth is inhibited under low atmospheric CO2 (refs. 7,8), so understanding glacial environments requires the development of new palaeoclimate indicators that are independent of vegetation9. Here we show that, contrary to expectations, during the past 350 kyr, peaks in southern Australian climatic moisture availability were largely confined to glacial periods, including the Last Glacial Maximum,..
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Grants
Awarded by Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust
Funding Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and ongoing Custodians of the Ancestral Lands of the South East and South West regions. In relation to Naracoorte caves, we acknowledge the Potaruwutij, Jardwadjali, Boandik and Meintangk Peoples. For assistance with permits, cave information and guidance in the field we thank the South Australian Department of Environment and Water (DEW), Australian Research Council (ARC) grant research partners at Naracoorte (Naracoorte Lucindale Council, DEW, Terre a Terre, Wrattonbully Wine Industries Association, South Australian Museum and the Defence Science and Technology Group), the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and the Margaret River Busselton Tourist Association. We thank P. Valdes (Bristol) for access to HadCM3 simulations and P. Bajo, S. Paul and R. Maas for laboratory and data processing assistance. R.W. thanks R. Pickering for her support. At Naracoorte, speleothem rubble samples used in this study were collected under permit nos. M26647, E26667 and U26922. For the LN caves, samples were collected under permits from the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and/or with permission from the Margaret River Busselton Tourist Association. This work was facilitated by ARC grants FL160100028 to J.D.W., FT130100801 to J.C.H. and LP160101249 to E.R., R.N.D. and J.C.H. R.W. acknowledges the Postgraduate Writing-Up Award supported by the Albert Shimmins Fund and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and VC2030 Scholar Postdoctoral Fellowship awards. J.R.B. is supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023).