Janet M Wilmshurst
Biographic Data
| ID | 207375 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Janet M Wilmshurst |
| GIVEN NAMES | Janet M |
| FAMILY NAME | Wilmshurst |
| SIGNATURE | WILMSHURST J M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4474-8569 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 34 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The age and position of the southern boundary of prehistoric Polynesian dispersal
Prehistoric Polynesian voyaging into high latitudes with landfall in Antarctica remains a widely credited proposition. We examine it through archaeological and environmental evidence from the Subantarctic region of the southwest Pacific, focussing upon an extensive archaeological site at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island. Combining a new set of radiocarbon ages with former, older, ages we show that the site is now within the same rapid expansion phase …
Is the past recoverable from the data? Pseudoproxy modelling of uncertainties in palaeoecological data
There is growing concern about the response of contemporary ecosystems to increasing and novel anthropogenic pressures and environmental conditions. Palaeoecology is crucial to understanding how ecosystems have responded to past environmental changes and can inform management of contemporary ecosystems and contribute to forecasts of ecosystem responses to change. However, palaeoecological data are subject to uncertainties that arise from environm…
A guide to assess distance from ecological baselines and change over time in palaeoecological records
Palaeoecology provides critical data for establishing ecological ‘baselines’, which can guide restoration efforts and be used to assess ecosystem change. However, statistical analyses can be challenging because of the large number of methods available for establishing palaeoecological baselines combined with a lack of practical guidance, particularly around quantifying baselines that include natural variability. We contribute one solution by prov…
Biodiversity losses and conservation responses in the Anthropocene
Biodiversity is essential to human well-being, but people have been reducing biodiversity throughout human history. Loss of species and degradation of ecosystems are likely to further accelerate in the coming years. Our understanding of this crisis is now clear, and world leaders have pledged to avert it. Nonetheless, global goals to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss have mostly not been achieved. However, many examples of conservation success…
Pollen-based temperature and precipitation records of the past 14,600 years in northern New Zealand (37°S) and their linkages with the Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation
Regional vegetation, climate history, and local water table fluctuations for the past 14,600 years are reconstructed from pollen and charcoal records of an ombrogenous peatbog in northern New Zealand (38°S). A long-term warming trend between 14,600 and 10,000 cal. yr BP is punctuated by two brief plateaux between 14,200–13,800 and 13,500–12,000 cal. yr BP. Periods of relatively drier conditions are inferred between 14,000–13,400 and 12,000–10,000…
Microscopic and ancient DNA profiling of Polynesian dog (kurī) coprolites from northern New Zealand
Looking Back for the Future: Local Knowledge and Palaeoecology Inform Biocultural Restoration of Coastal Ecosystems in New Zealand
High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia
The 15 archipelagos of East Polynesia, including New Zealand, Hawaii, and Rapa Nui, were the last habitable places on earth colonized by prehistoric humans. The timing and pattern of this colonization event has been poorly resolved, with chronologies varying by >1000 y, precluding understanding of cultural change and ecological impacts on these pristine ecosystems. In a meta-analysis of 1,434 radiocarbon dates from the region, reliable short-live…
The 13th century polynesian colonization of Hawai’i Island
Seasonality in the early Holocene: Extending fossil-based estimates with a forest ecosystem process model
Past seasonality changes are often poorly represented by Quaternary proxies because one season, or one factor, dominates the reconstructed signal. During the early Holocene in New Zealand, mean annual temperatures were at least 1.5°C warmer than present. However, treelines were lower, suggesting summers were cooler. Here we use a forest ecosystem process model, LINKNZ, to explore past precipitation and temperature seasonality changes in an interm…
Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat
The pristine island ecosystems of East Polynesia were among the last places on Earth settled by prehistoric people, and their colonization triggered a devastating transformation. Overhunting contributed to widespread faunal extinctions and the decline of marine megafauna, fires destroyed lowland forests, and the introduction of the omnivorous Pacific rat ( Rattus exulans ) led to a new wave of predation on the biota. East Polynesian islands prese…
Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: An assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data
Late-glacial and Holocene vegetation and climatic history of the Cass Basin, central South Island, New Zealand
Lithology, pollen, macrofossils, and stable carbon isotopes from an intermontane basin bog site in southern New Zealand provide a detailed late-glacial and early Holocene vegetation and climate record. Glacial retreat occurred before 17,000 cal yr B.P., and tundra-like grassland"shrubland occupied the basin shortly after. Between 16,500 and 14,600 cal yr B.P., a minor regional expansion of forest patches occurred in response to warming, but the b…
Using rat-gnawed seeds to independently date the arrival of Pacific rats and humans in New Zealand
The Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) was transported throughout the south Pacific with voyaging humans. Thus, the earliest dated evidence of Pacific rat can be used to infer first human contact. Until recently, it was considered that rats arrived in New Zealand with humans in the thirteenth century AD. However, controversial radiocarbon dates on Pacific rat bones now suggest that rats reached the remote islands of New Zealand with people c. AD 50-150…
Reconstructing Holocene water tables in New Zealand using testate amoebae: Differential preservation of tests and implications for the use of transfer functions
Testate amoebae analysis is used to provide the first quantitative reconstruction of Holocene surface wetness changes from a Southern Hemisphere ombrogenous bog. Water-table depth and surface moisture are the dominant environmental factors influencing testate amoebae species composition in a modern training set of 62 surface samples from 19 bogs in New Zealand. A transfer function based on partial least squares (PLS) performed well in cross-valid…
Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation and climatic change on Auckland Island, Subantarctic New Zealand
Auckland Island is a small uninhabited Subantarctic island south ( c.51°S) of the New Zealand mainland. It is the southernmost outpost of tall forest in the southwest Pacific. Pollen analysis of two closely adjacent peat cores near tree-line documents climate change and forest dynamics during the Lateglacial and Holocene. After the retreat of glaciers before 15 000 14 C yr BP, mountain tundra communities dominated on mineral soils under a cooler …
Dating initial Maori environmental impact in New Zealand
The Kaharoa Tephra as a Critical Datum for Earliest Human Impact in Northern New Zealand
Forest disturbance in the central North Island, New Zealand, following the 1850 BP Taupo eruption
The 1850 BP Taupo eruption covered c. 30 000 km 2 of the central North Island with airfall deposits and c. 20 000 km 2 with ignimbrite. This paper reviews pollen and charcoal analyses of lake and peat sediment cores from sites at various distances and directions from the Taupo vent to establish the effects of this eruption on the surrounding forests. Forests within range of the ignimbrite were destroyed, and forests located up to 170 km east of t…
The Kaharoa Tephra as a Critical Datum for Earliest Human Impact in Northern New Zealand
Reconstructing Holocene water tables in New Zealand using testate amoebae: Differential preservation of tests and implications for the use of transfer functions
Testate amoebae analysis is used to provide the first quantitative reconstruction of Holocene surface wetness changes from a Southern Hemisphere ombrogenous bog. Water-table depth and surface moisture are the dominant environmental factors influencing testate amoebae species composition in a modern training set of 62 surface samples from 19 bogs in New Zealand. A transfer function based on partial least squares (PLS) performed well in cross-valid…
Using rat-gnawed seeds to independently date the arrival of Pacific rats and humans in New Zealand
The Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) was transported throughout the south Pacific with voyaging humans. Thus, the earliest dated evidence of Pacific rat can be used to infer first human contact. Until recently, it was considered that rats arrived in New Zealand with humans in the thirteenth century AD. However, controversial radiocarbon dates on Pacific rat bones now suggest that rats reached the remote islands of New Zealand with people c. AD 50-150…
Looking Back for the Future: Local Knowledge and Palaeoecology Inform Biocultural Restoration of Coastal Ecosystems in New Zealand
Forest disturbance in the central North Island, New Zealand, following the 1850 BP Taupo eruption
The 1850 BP Taupo eruption covered c. 30 000 km 2 of the central North Island with airfall deposits and c. 20 000 km 2 with ignimbrite. This paper reviews pollen and charcoal analyses of lake and peat sediment cores from sites at various distances and directions from the Taupo vent to establish the effects of this eruption on the surrounding forests. Forests within range of the ignimbrite were destroyed, and forests located up to 170 km east of t…
Seasonality in the early Holocene: Extending fossil-based estimates with a forest ecosystem process model
Past seasonality changes are often poorly represented by Quaternary proxies because one season, or one factor, dominates the reconstructed signal. During the early Holocene in New Zealand, mean annual temperatures were at least 1.5°C warmer than present. However, treelines were lower, suggesting summers were cooler. Here we use a forest ecosystem process model, LINKNZ, to explore past precipitation and temperature seasonality changes in an interm…
Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation and climatic change on Auckland Island, Subantarctic New Zealand
Auckland Island is a small uninhabited Subantarctic island south ( c.51°S) of the New Zealand mainland. It is the southernmost outpost of tall forest in the southwest Pacific. Pollen analysis of two closely adjacent peat cores near tree-line documents climate change and forest dynamics during the Lateglacial and Holocene. After the retreat of glaciers before 15 000 14 C yr BP, mountain tundra communities dominated on mineral soils under a cooler …
Forest disturbance in the central North Island, New Zealand, following the 1850 BP Taupo eruption
The 1850 BP Taupo eruption covered c. 30 000 km 2 of the central North Island with airfall deposits and c. 20 000 km 2 with ignimbrite. This paper reviews pollen and charcoal analyses of lake and peat sediment cores from sites at various distances and directions from the Taupo vent to establish the effects of this eruption on the surrounding forests. Forests within range of the ignimbrite were destroyed, and forests located up to 170 km east of t…
The Kaharoa Tephra as a Critical Datum for Earliest Human Impact in Northern New Zealand
Dating initial Maori environmental impact in New Zealand
Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation and climatic change on Auckland Island, Subantarctic New Zealand
Auckland Island is a small uninhabited Subantarctic island south ( c.51°S) of the New Zealand mainland. It is the southernmost outpost of tall forest in the southwest Pacific. Pollen analysis of two closely adjacent peat cores near tree-line documents climate change and forest dynamics during the Lateglacial and Holocene. After the retreat of glaciers before 15 000 14 C yr BP, mountain tundra communities dominated on mineral soils under a cooler …
Reconstructing Holocene water tables in New Zealand using testate amoebae: Differential preservation of tests and implications for the use of transfer functions
Testate amoebae analysis is used to provide the first quantitative reconstruction of Holocene surface wetness changes from a Southern Hemisphere ombrogenous bog. Water-table depth and surface moisture are the dominant environmental factors influencing testate amoebae species composition in a modern training set of 62 surface samples from 19 bogs in New Zealand. A transfer function based on partial least squares (PLS) performed well in cross-valid…
Late-glacial and Holocene vegetation and climatic history of the Cass Basin, central South Island, New Zealand
Lithology, pollen, macrofossils, and stable carbon isotopes from an intermontane basin bog site in southern New Zealand provide a detailed late-glacial and early Holocene vegetation and climate record. Glacial retreat occurred before 17,000 cal yr B.P., and tundra-like grassland"shrubland occupied the basin shortly after. Between 16,500 and 14,600 cal yr B.P., a minor regional expansion of forest patches occurred in response to warming, but the b…
Using rat-gnawed seeds to independently date the arrival of Pacific rats and humans in New Zealand
The Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) was transported throughout the south Pacific with voyaging humans. Thus, the earliest dated evidence of Pacific rat can be used to infer first human contact. Until recently, it was considered that rats arrived in New Zealand with humans in the thirteenth century AD. However, controversial radiocarbon dates on Pacific rat bones now suggest that rats reached the remote islands of New Zealand with people c. AD 50-150…
Dating the late prehistoric dispersal of Polynesians to New Zealand using the commensal Pacific rat
The pristine island ecosystems of East Polynesia were among the last places on Earth settled by prehistoric people, and their colonization triggered a devastating transformation. Overhunting contributed to widespread faunal extinctions and the decline of marine megafauna, fires destroyed lowland forests, and the introduction of the omnivorous Pacific rat ( Rattus exulans ) led to a new wave of predation on the biota. East Polynesian islands prese…
Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: An assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data
Seasonality in the early Holocene: Extending fossil-based estimates with a forest ecosystem process model
Past seasonality changes are often poorly represented by Quaternary proxies because one season, or one factor, dominates the reconstructed signal. During the early Holocene in New Zealand, mean annual temperatures were at least 1.5°C warmer than present. However, treelines were lower, suggesting summers were cooler. Here we use a forest ecosystem process model, LINKNZ, to explore past precipitation and temperature seasonality changes in an interm…
High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia
The 15 archipelagos of East Polynesia, including New Zealand, Hawaii, and Rapa Nui, were the last habitable places on earth colonized by prehistoric humans. The timing and pattern of this colonization event has been poorly resolved, with chronologies varying by >1000 y, precluding understanding of cultural change and ecological impacts on these pristine ecosystems. In a meta-analysis of 1,434 radiocarbon dates from the region, reliable short-live…
The 13th century polynesian colonization of Hawai’i Island
Looking Back for the Future: Local Knowledge and Palaeoecology Inform Biocultural Restoration of Coastal Ecosystems in New Zealand
Microscopic and ancient DNA profiling of Polynesian dog (kurī) coprolites from northern New Zealand
Biodiversity losses and conservation responses in the Anthropocene
Biodiversity is essential to human well-being, but people have been reducing biodiversity throughout human history. Loss of species and degradation of ecosystems are likely to further accelerate in the coming years. Our understanding of this crisis is now clear, and world leaders have pledged to avert it. Nonetheless, global goals to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss have mostly not been achieved. However, many examples of conservation success…
Pollen-based temperature and precipitation records of the past 14,600 years in northern New Zealand (37°S) and their linkages with the Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation
Regional vegetation, climate history, and local water table fluctuations for the past 14,600 years are reconstructed from pollen and charcoal records of an ombrogenous peatbog in northern New Zealand (38°S). A long-term warming trend between 14,600 and 10,000 cal. yr BP is punctuated by two brief plateaux between 14,200–13,800 and 13,500–12,000 cal. yr BP. Periods of relatively drier conditions are inferred between 14,000–13,400 and 12,000–10,000…
A guide to assess distance from ecological baselines and change over time in palaeoecological records
Palaeoecology provides critical data for establishing ecological ‘baselines’, which can guide restoration efforts and be used to assess ecosystem change. However, statistical analyses can be challenging because of the large number of methods available for establishing palaeoecological baselines combined with a lack of practical guidance, particularly around quantifying baselines that include natural variability. We contribute one solution by prov…
The age and position of the southern boundary of prehistoric Polynesian dispersal
Prehistoric Polynesian voyaging into high latitudes with landfall in Antarctica remains a widely credited proposition. We examine it through archaeological and environmental evidence from the Subantarctic region of the southwest Pacific, focussing upon an extensive archaeological site at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island. Combining a new set of radiocarbon ages with former, older, ages we show that the site is now within the same rapid expansion phase …
Is the past recoverable from the data? Pseudoproxy modelling of uncertainties in palaeoecological data
There is growing concern about the response of contemporary ecosystems to increasing and novel anthropogenic pressures and environmental conditions. Palaeoecology is crucial to understanding how ecosystems have responded to past environmental changes and can inform management of contemporary ecosystems and contribute to forecasts of ecosystem responses to change. However, palaeoecological data are subject to uncertainties that arise from environm…
Geography (19 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (13 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (11 works) · Archaeology (10 works) · Physical geography (10 works) · Biology (9 works) · Geology (9 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (8 works) · Climate change (7 works) · Environmental Science (7 works)