Understanding past environments help us to understand the future

Explain the importance of the study of past environments in predicting the impact of human activity in present
environments

The impact on the Australian environment of the first humans, especially through the use of fire is still
widely debated.
The impact of Europeans on the Australian environment was rapid and extensive. Extinction rates and
declines in abundance and range of native flora and fauna have been highest in regions where settlement
first occurred. This is attributable to inappropriate land and water use, habitat loss, fragmentation, over
exploitation and spread of introduced species.
Human impact on the Australian environment has also accelerated over the past 200 years due to extensive
forest and woodland clearing, changes to water regimes and introduced animals and plants.
Studying past environments and the extinction of species before, during and after the arrival of humans
assists in prediction the impact of changes to the present environment.
The impact of humans can only be measured when the state of the past environment is known.
A great deal can be learned about current rates of extinction by studying the past, and in particular the
impact of human-caused extinctions, caused by hunting, burning and clearing forests and possibly climate
change.
The majority of historic extinctions have occurred on islands (of the 90 mammals in the last 500 years, 73
percent lived on islands), as their populations are small and vulnerable to extinction. This has changed
recently, most species now threatened with extinction occur on continents, and scientists can predict that
these areas will be the most effected within the next 100 years.
Mass extinctions have occurred several times over the past half a billion years, however the current mass
extinction is notable because it is the only event triggered by a single species, humans. It is not clear that
biodiversity will rebound this time, as after previous mass extinction event, new species have evolved to
utilise resources made available due to species extinctions, however these resources are less available due
to human activities destroying habitats and using resources for their own use.
Biologists can estimate rates of extinction both by studying recorded extinction events and by analysing
trends in habitat loss and disruption.
Factors responsible
By studying a wide array of recorded extinctions and many species currently threatened with extinction,
conservation biologists have identified a few human factors that seem to play and important role in
extinction.
Over exploitation, introduced species, disruption of ecological relationships, loss of genetic variability, and
habitat loss and fragmentation.
The extent of environmental change is best illustrated by the number of large animals that became extinct
during the period in which people have been in Australia. Most extinctions occurs 35 000 to 15 000 years
ago when conditions were driest during glacial period, although there is no evidence to suggest that
climactic conditions at this time were more extreme. However, increased environmental stability resulting
from human burning and associated vegetation changes may have sufficiently altered stream flow and lake
levels to produce a more drought-prone environment.

Predicting what species are vulnerable to extinction

- To determine this, conservation biologists look for changes in population size and habitat availability.
- Species whose populations are shrinking rapidly, whose habitats being destroyed or which are endemic to
small areas can be considered endangered.
- Historical information is also critical in explaining the present state of the environment and therefore also in
predicting the future.
- In environmental management this usually involves two aspects-
1) Baseline information for some point in the past which has relevance to the ecosystem being managed.
IN Australia this has most often been taken to the moment of first European settlement, as
representing the state of the environment prior to the impacts and changes brought by settlement.
2) Measurements of change since that point in time. Recognition of different rates and types of change in
the past is a crucial foundation to understanding change in the present and to managing human activity
into the future.
- An example of this approach to environmental management is the Parramatta River. It has been commonly
assumed that the mangroves along the banks of the Parramatta River are remnants of former extensive
growth, destroyed in the course of the citys European history, this assumption is based on the present
distribution of mangroves, and comparing this to the historical sources from the time of the initial
settlement, finding major changes in vegetation from the early 1800s up to 2000. The earliest data showed
mangroves confined to patch only in lower areas of the river and other prominent vegetation such as
saltmarsh. The latest data showed increased mangrove growth to eventually line all available sections of
the riverbanks and invade and replace saltmarshes. This study has now provided more accurate information
about human impact on vegetation.

Identify the ways in which palaeontology assists understanding of the factors that may determine distribution of
flora and fauna in present and future environments.

Fossils, as the remains of once living organisms that were adapted to their environments, can provide
valuable information about what past environments were like.
The study of fossils can predict the environmental requirements of organisms in the past from those closely
related organisms leaving in the present say.
Such predictions will be most reliable in the case of younger rocks that contain fossils that have
representatives alive today, the predictions become less reliable as fossils of extinct groups are uncovered.
By studying fossils, palaeontologists can
o Determine how the organisms have changed over time
o Understand how organisms may be related
o Understand why some organisms have become extinct
o See the effect of species extinction on other organisms
o Recognise changes in past distribution of organisms in order to provide information about how the
distribution may be currently changing.
This information obtained may be as simple as whether the rocks in which they occur were deposited in the
sea, in a brackish estuary, in fresh water or on the land.
(Rocks containing fossils of coral must be from the sea, land dwelling animals- land etc. etc.)
Fossil evidence may provide clues about the interactions of organisms with each other, biotic and abiotic
factors of past ecosystems, and evidence of climate change in past environments.
This fossil evidence therefore provides us with the factors that may have determined the distribution of
fauna and flora in the past and hence distribution in present and future environments.

Factors determining distribution of Australian marsupials

By looking at the evidence for changes between past and present climate, and observing the changes in the
distribution of organisms that formed fossils over time, we can understand the factors that may determine
distribution of flora and fauna in present day environments and predict the movement and distribution of
organisms in the future.
 For example, South American marsupials have been dominated by placental mammals, this predict the
possibility of a similar occurrence with Australian marsupials.
Palaeontologists can compare past life to modern groups of organisms to discover genetic relationships and
the age of different groups.
The fossil record for kangaroo-like marsupials in Australia extends back 45 million years ago, when
rainforests were wide spread. As Australia drifted north aridity increased and grasslands and open forests
became more common, the number of living species of grazing macropod kangaroos that adapted to a diet
of grasses reflects success in the drying environments.

Fossil sites in Australia

- Fossils sites provide information about the species and environment of that area in the past. Fossil findings
can provide evidence and assist in indicating the possible factors that may determine distribution of plants
and animals currently and in the future by telling us factors that influenced them in the past.
Lightning Ridge: Fossils aged 110 million years old show a short beaked echidna (tachyglossus aculeatus)
the platypus (O. anatiunus) a carnivious dinosaur (R. ornitholestoides) and a herbivorous dinosaur (M.
Langdoni). The past flora and fauna proposed from this evidence suggests that forests of ferns and pines
and flowering plants existed alongside herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs as well as monotremes.

Gather, process and analyse information from secondary sources and use available evidence to proposed
reasons for the evolution, survival and extinction of species, with reference to specific Australian examples.

The dramatic increase in biodiversity is a collective result of a number of rapid evolutionary spurts followed by
occurrences of mass extinction. This rise and fall of extinctions led to biodiversity. As these extinctions are often
followed by occurrences of diversification, as the survivors of the extinctions rapidly evolve, adapting to
repopulate the environment left by the extinct organisms.

The extinction of Australias Megafauna has been attributed to

Human impact- hunting

The last ice age- lack of water, climates become drier and colder, habitats destroyed as well as food sources.

A combination of both

The Evolution of Australian Biota

Biota- all flora and fauna of a particular region

Plate Tectonics and the formation of Australia

During the 20th century seismology revealed that the Earth is not a solid ball of rock, but made up of a number
of layers.

Crust- lower density rocks

Mantle- High density rock

Outer core- Liquid Iron and Nickel

Inner core- Solid iron and nickel

The crust is not tightly attached to the mantle below it. Also, the mantle is not rigid and solid, but plastic and
can slowly flow in huge convection currents that are bringing heat energy outward from the Earth core. These
convection currents push against the crust, which is not a single solid skin but is fractured into about a dozen
plates, which slide around on the mantle as the currents push from below. Due to their proximity the plates
much either move apart, slide sideways against each other or collide. As the plates move they carry the
continents and the crust under the oceans with them. Evidence suggests that all Southern continents (India,
New Zealand, and New Guinea) were joined together as Gondwana.

DIVERGENT- plates move away from each other

CONVERGENT- Collide

TRANSFORM- brush up against each other

SUBDUCTION- Ocean plate goes under continental plate

OBDUCTION- continental plate goes under an oceanic plate

Evidence-

The continents fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, especially along the lines of the continental shelf, which is the
true edge of each continent and is usually under water, rather than the actual coastline.

Mid ocean ridges- on the ocean floors several kilometres underwater, the mid-ocean ridges show strong
evidence of sea-floor spreading where plates are moving apart. The rocks of the parallel ridges are youngest in
the middle and get progressively older as you move outward. The residual magnetism in the rocks (which was
aligned as the rock hardened from molten lava) shows a symmetry on either side of the central ridge. Each
matching band of magnetism represents a line of new rock formed as the crusts move apart. Later, these
bands were separated by even newer rock injected from below as the crust plates continued to move. This
can also be seen on land.

Fossil evidence- The distribution of certain fossils give more evidence of the moving continents. One particular
fossil is a plant called Glossopteris, has been discovered in rocks in the southern hemisphere. These places are
now widely separated and it is very unlikely that these plants or animals could cross an ocean. The
explanation is that these organisms lived in a united Gondwana, separated by the continental drift. A number
of animal fossils dating from 200-100 million years ago have been found in S. America and Africa.

Distribution of Modern Species- There are living species that show the same distribution. Marsupial animals
are found only in Australia, New Guinea and America (fossils found in Africa) Antarctic Beech- trees found only
in Australia and South America (fossils found in Antarctica). The explanation is that these groups evolved in
Gondwana, and then were carries to their current locations by the drifting continents.

The Break-up of Gondwana

The ocean floors have been well mapped, distinguishing the where the mid-ocean ridges are. The positions of
frequent earthquakes and active volcanoes identify plate boundaries.

India split off early, pushing towards Asia and causing a collision that created the Himalayas.

South America separated 50mya. Going west and north, and then rotated 20mya making contact with North
America.
Australia and Antarctica (joined) moved east, but Antarctica separated and went south. By 40mya Australia
was isolated, but connected to the oceanic crust of the Indian Ocean. Since then Australia has been moving
north. Our plate is colliding with Asia, and the Pacific Plate. The movement averages 2-5cm per year.

Changing Ideas about Australian Animals

The first specimen of the Platypus sent to England was believed to be a hoax, seeming an impossible
combination of mammal and reptile. After it became accepted as real, it and the echidna were classified into a
separate sub-class of mammals monotremes, because they reproduce by laying eggs.

They were considered living fossils, and thought to be extremely primitive and inferior to placental mammals.
Marsupials were thought to be only slightly more advanced. It was thought that the only reason they had
survived in the modern era was because Australia had been isolated so they faced no competition from
superior animals.

Fossil discoveries in South America of platypus-like animals prove that monotremes did not just evolve in
Australia but wider Gondwana. Showing they had already faced competitions from advanced placental
mammals. Furthermore, the more research is done on the platypus and other native animals, the more is
uncovered about their ancient lineage, showing that they are highly adapted to the unpredictable Australian
climate and have thrived through the millions of years of ecological changes in such a harsh environment.

Evolution in Australia

Natural Selection and Evolution

The scientific theory to explain how and why evolution occurs is based on the concept of natural selection, the
key to which is variation within species. Natural selection refers to the way the conditions of nature are
constantly select who survives and who dies out. If survival depends on speed to run from a predator, then
the faster individuals survive and the slower ones die out. It is therefore vital that variation occurs within
species, as these species have a large rate of survival if their environment was to change. An environmental
change could be a change in climate, a new disease, predator or competition, or the change in availability of
food resource. And the individuals with the characteristics to survive such changes become more dominant, as
they successfully reproduce.

Evidence for Climate Change

Over the past 100 million years Australia has separated from Gondwana, causing environmental change.
Fossils dated 50-100 million years ago show that most of Australia was once covered by lush forests. Some
common plants includes the Glossopteris and Antarctic beech. Proving that at the time much of Australia had
a much wetter climate. When sea levels rose 40 million years ago, parts of Australia were covered by inland
sea, supported by crocodile, flamingos and tortoise fossils that indicate extensive water environments.

Australia then moved north, the climate becoming drier. This is supported by the fossil record, as its shows
sclerophyll plants becoming very common 25 million years ago, and they are adapted to dry climates,
characterise by thin small leaves with a thick waxy cuticle.

Asutralia flora today is dominated by the eucalypt, banksia and acacia. Fossils of leaves and pollen in New
Zealand and South America show that the Eucayptus and Banksias