Radiocarbon dating of wood and charcoal in an Australian forest ecosystem

Summary

Estimation of tree age in various species along the east coast of Australia is made difficult by the lack of identifiable annual growth rings in stem wood and this creates problems in studying long term forest dynamics. It is possible to use radiocarbon dating to obtain general information for this purpose. In an area on the north coast of New South Wales where three forest types, were in close proximity, individuals of Eucalyptus pilularis (blackbutt) were found to be about 100 years old, Tristania conferta (brushbox) between 100 and 1340 years old and subtropical rainforest was between 100 and 880 years old. From these data, together with that from dating of soil charcoal, the frequency of fire (with sufficient severity to result in the production of charcoal) was estimated to be 300 years in the blackbutt forest, 300–400 years in the brushbox forest and in excess of 1000 years in the rainforest. Although only a few results are available, they indicate the potential of radiocarbon dating for use in studies on long term dynamics of forest ecosystems.