LATE PLEISTOCENE VEGETATION AND CLIMATE NEAR MELALEUCA INLET, SOUTH-WESTERN TASMANIA

Macrofossils of 27 taxa and microfossils of 47 taxa are identified from a Late Pleistocene deposit at Melaleuca Inlet with a minimum age of 38 800 years. Interpretation of the fossil assemblage suggests that at the time of deposition the climate was cooler than at present and at least as wet. The local vegetation was dominated by wet scrub and sedgeland-heath communities with rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest also present. Species composition was similar to extant vegetation in the region but now-extinct species and possibly communities were present. Charcoal occurs in the sediments and the taxonomic make-up of the assemblage is consistent with the presence of a well established high fire frequency, despite the deposit pre-dating the earliest known human occupation of Tasmania.