A late-Holocene multiproxy fire record from a tropical savanna, eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia

Fire has a long history in Australia and is a key driver of vegetation dynamics in the tropical savanna ecosystems that cover one quarter of the country. Fire reconstructions are required to understand ecosystem dynamics over the long term but these data are lacking for the extensive savannas of northern Australia. This paper presents a multiproxy palaeofire record for Marura sinkhole in eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. The record is constructed by combining optical methods (counts and morphology of macroscopic and microscopic charcoal particles) and chemical methods (quantification of abundance and stable isotope composition of pyrogenic carbon by hydrogen pyrolysis). This novel combination of measurements enables the generation of a record of relative fire intensity to investigate the interplay between natural and anthropogenic influences. The Marura palaeofire record comprises three main phases: 4600–2800 cal BP, 2800–900 cal BP and 900 cal BP to present. Highest fire incidence occurs at ~4600–4000 cal BP, coinciding with regional records of high effective precipitation, and all fire proxies decline from that time to the present. 2800–900 cal BP is characterised by variable fire intensities and aligns with archaeological evidence of occupation at nearby Blue Mud Bay. All fire proxies decline significantly after 900 cal BP. The combination of charcoal and pyrogenic carbon measures is a promising proxy for relative fire intensity in sedimentary records and a useful tool for investigating potential anthropogenic fire regimes

A 33,000-year paleohydrological record from Sanamere Lagoon, north-eastern tropical savannas of Australia

There are very few records of past terrestrial environmental change of any time period for the Australian tropical savannas. Here we document the hydrological development of Sanamere Lagoon, north Queensland, from a 1.72 m sediment sequence with a basal age of ca. 33 ka. We measure a variety of proxies reflecting environmental change within and around the lagoon, including grain size, elemental and diatom abundance, and carbon and nitrogen isotope composition. By integrating the interpretation of multiple proxies, we show that regional climatic events, such as the reactivation of the monsoon at 15 ka and sea-level rise ending at 7 ka, are reflected in local ecosystem change and a diversity of biogeochemical responses in Sanamere Lagoon. This record makes a significant contribution to the development of records of environmental change from an under-studied region in tropical Australia through the Holocene to the LGM and beyond-a step towards enabling a more detailed understanding of regional monsoon (paleo)dynamics. In particular, this study highlights nuances in the effect of Indonesian-Australian Summer monsoon dynamics in a region less affected by sea level and continental shelf drowning complexities

Exploring palaeoecology in the Northern Territory: the Walanjiwurru rockshelter, vegetation dynamics and shifting social landscapes in Marra Country

This paper presents a palynological analysis of sediments from Walanjiwurru 1, a rockshelter located in the Country of the Marra Aboriginal people at Limmen National Park in the Northern Territory (Australia). Analysis seeks to test rockshelter sediments as a framework for research in an environmentally difficult location, and to explore how the palaeoecological record may capture the diversity of people-nature relationships over time in the Northern Territory. The Walanjiwurru 1 pollen record provides an approximate 500-year insight into the rockshelter’s surrounding landscape. Two plant communities demonstrate local presence across this time frame—foremost a drier eucalypt woodland, and a wetter fringing Melaleuca dominated habitat, each with an integrated series of monsoonal forest taxa. With only subtle shifts in vegetation, the Marra’s consistent maintenance of relations with their landscape is observable, and this is discussed in relation to the Walanjiwurru 1’s archaeology and regional European settler colonialism. Charcoal recovery from Walanjiwurru 1 is derived from in situ campfires, making it difficult to conclude on the response of plant types and vegetation communities to long-term landscape burning. Future palaeoecological research off-site from the rockshelter has therefore been recommended

Indigenous impacts on north Australian savanna fire regimes over the Holocene

Fire is an essential component of tropical savannas, driving key ecological feedbacks and functions. Indigenous manipulation of fire has been practiced for tens of millennia in Australian savannas, and there is a renewed interest in understanding the effects of anthropogenic burning on savanna systems. However, separating the impacts of natural and human fire regimes on millennial timescales remains difficult. Here we show using palynological and isotope geochemical proxy records from a rare permanent water body in Northern Australia that vegetation, climate, and fire dynamics were intimately linked over the early to mid-Holocene. As the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) intensified during the late Holocene, a decoupling occurred between fire intensity and frequency, landscape vegetation, and the source of vegetation burnt. We infer from this decoupling, that indigenous fire management began or intensified at around 3 cal kyr BP, possibly as a response to ENSO related climate variability. Indigenous fire management reduced fire intensity and targeted understory tropical grasses, enabling woody thickening to continue in a drying climate

The natural setting of Caution Bay: climate, landforms, biota, and environmental zones

In this chapter, we review the present and past environment of Caution Bay set in a broader geographical context, including both terrestrial and marine habitats. Our primary objective is to sketch the general canvas upon which the past 6,000 or so years of local human presence, as represented by the Caution Bay archaeological record, played out. A secondary objective is to document the range of contemporary landforms and explore the spatial distribution and ecological dynamics of the various plant and animal communities that still occupy the present landscape, or did so at the time when Europeans first arrived in the 1870s. Knowledge of the contemporary landscape and its resources represents the starting point for inferring continuities and changes in ways of life for the region's past inhabitants as these are tracked back from the present to the mid-Holocene, and ultimately for understanding the choices people made as they balanced various primary extractive and commercial activities to maintain cultural practices, adopt and develop new ones, survive and prosper. Relationships between people and locales at Caution Bay were, and continue to be, dynamic, with people playing a major role in shaping both the physical and biological landscape, just as the landscape and its resources have influenced the course of human history in this area

Multiproxy Holocene fire records from the tropical savannas of northern Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia

Palaeoecology has demonstrated potential to inform current and future land management by providing long-term baselines for fire regimes, over thousands of years covering past periods of lower/higher rainfall and temperatures. To extend this potential, more work is required for methodological innovation able to generate nuanced, relevant and clearly interpretable results. This paper presents records from Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, as a case study where fire management is an important but socially complex modern management issue, and where palaeofire records are limited. Two new multiproxy palaeofire records are presented from Sanamere Lagoon (8150-6600 cal BP) and Big Willum Swamp (3900 cal BP to present). These records combine existing methods to investigate fire occurrence, vegetation types, and relative fire intensity. Results presented here demonstrate a diversity of fire histories at different sites across Cape York Peninsula, highlighting the need for finer scale palaeofire research. Future fire management planning on Cape York Peninsula must take into account the thousands of years of active Indigenous management and this understanding can be further informed by palaeoecological research

Emerging out of Lapita at Caution Bay

[Extract] The discovery in 2010 of stratified Lapita assemblages at Caution Bay near Port Moresby, south coast of mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG) (David et al. 2011; McNiven et al. 2011), brought to the fore a series of important questions (Richards et al. 2016), many of which also apply to other parts of Island Melanesia where Lapita sites have been known for many decades. Unlike other parts of Melanesia, however, at Caution Bay some of the Lapita sites also have pre-Lapita horizons. A number are culturally very rich. At Caution Bay, where the oldest confirmed Lapita finds date to no earlier than c. 2900 cal BP (McNiven et al. 2012a), the major questions do not concern the earliest expressions of Lapita around 3300–3400 cal BP. Rather, here we are concerned more with identifying how assemblages associated with the Lapita cultural complex arrived and transformed along the south coast, after a presence in coastal and island regions to the northeast over the previous 400 years. These concerns contain both spatial and temporal elements: how and when, as a prelude to why, particular cultural traits continued and changed across Caution Bay. Tanamu 1 is the first of 122 archaeological sites excavated in Caution Bay upon which we will report. As a site, it represents the ideal entry point, as being a coastal site which contains pre-Lapita, Lapita and post-Lapita horizons it encapsulates many of the signatures, trends and transformations seen across the >5000 year Caution Bay sequence at large. Of special note in the wider context of Lapita archaeology, the presence of rich pre-Lapita horizons is what makes Caution Bay so important both in and of itself and for the Lapita story

Evaluation of the Burma Art Therapy Project for Adolescent Refugees from Burma in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools

Background: North Carolina has a growing refugee population from Burma, with an estimated 400 Burmese families living in Orange County alone. For refugee youth, coping with past hardship, immigration, and acculturation often leads to excessive stress and increased risk of mental health disorders. The Art Therapy Institute (ATI) implements an innovative, school-based art therapy program for refugee youth from Burma in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. This program, known as the Burma Art Therapy Project (BATP), uses art therapy to facilitate self-expression and alleviate mental health symptoms through non-verbal communication methods. During the 2013-2014 academic year, a team of students from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health worked with ATI to evaluate BATP and increase organizational capacity through the creation of a user guide, submission of a grant proposal, and subsequent dissemination of evaluation results. Through this work, the Capstone team aimed to fill gaps in the literature regarding art therapy, to improve ATI's capacity to attract funding, and to ensure sustainability of the BATP program. Methods: To scale-up the evaluation, we modified and added to the data collection protocol created by the previous Capstone team. We created an evaluation user guide and data management system and trained clinicians on data collection protocols. BATP clients were assessed at baseline and follow up after four months of art therapy sessions to measure impact of art therapy on mental health indicators. During the evaluation, assessments were collected, entered into the data management system, and analyzed. Findings were used to show impact and need and incorporated into a grant proposal, evaluation report, and presentation of findings. We wrote a manuscript to share lessons learned from the evaluation with broader academic community. Results: The evaluation demonstrated that refugee clients needed access to mental health services. ATI clients experienced many traumatic events in Burma, and had higher symptoms of anxiety and depression as compared to age-matched US populations. Following 12-16 weeks of art therapy, ATI client showed significant decreases in symptoms of anxiety. Throughout the evaluation process, we noticed that the assessments were not fully capturing the strengths and difficulties of ATI clients. These findings resulted in a manuscript that we intend to submit to the Journal of Health Promotion Practice. In addition, the grant proposal strengthened ATI's business model and created relationships with funders. Discussion: The results from the outcome evaluation are the first step toward building ATI's evidence base for the effectiveness of BATP and art therapy. The five deliverables produced each contribute uniquely to the sustainability of BATP and ATI. The user guide and data management system improved ATI's capacity to conduct program evaluation in years to come. The evaluation report documented need among ATI clients, and the grant proposal contributed to the financial sustainability of BATP. Lastly, the presentation of findings and manuscript contribute to the art therapy field as a whole by demonstrating the effectiveness of this therapy for refugee populations. In the future, we recommend that ATI utilize a mixed methods approach to fully capture the benefits of art therapy and further build evidence for the positive impacts of BATP.Master of Public Healt