Early settlers rapidly transformed Kiwi forests with fire

Sify ^ | Tuesday, December 14, 2010 | ANI

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Charcoal recovered from lakebed sediment cores has shown that just a few large fires within 200 years of initial colonization destroyed much of the South Island's lowland forest.

Dave McWethy and Cathy Whitlock from Montana State University led the international team that carried out the study.

Previous research by co-authors Matt McGlone and Janet Wilmshurst at Landcare Research in New Zealand showed that closed forests covered 85-90 percent of New Zealand prior to the arrival of Polynesians (Maori ) 700-800 years ago, but by the time Europeans settled in the mid 19th century, grass and shrubs had replaced over 40 percent of the South Island's forests...

Wilmshurst said archaeological evidence has suggested that successful cultivation of introduced food crops, such as kumara and taro, was only possible in warmer northern coastal areas and the starch-rich rhizomes of bracken fern, which replaced the burnt forests, provided an essential part of Maori diets in colder regions.

Newly derived records of past climate enabled the team to disprove the hypothesis that unusual climate conditions encouraged fire at around the time of Maori settlement.

[dfwgator]

[SunkenCiv]

Alas, there is no “Captain Actinidia” graphic on the web, that I could find. :’)