Corrigendum. Modelling horses for novel climate courses: insights from projecting potential distributions of native and alien Australian acacias with correlative and mechanistic models (original) (raw)

The climate reconstruction potential of Acacia cambagei (gidgee) for semi-arid regions of Australia using stable isotopes and elemental abundances

To provide multi-centennial, annually-resolved records of climate for arid and semi-arid areas of Australia it is necessary to investigate the potential climate signals in tree species in this large region. Using a stable isotope and x-ray fluorescence approach to dendrochronology in Acacia cambagei, this study demonstrates short (10 years) proxies of temperature and precipitation are possible. Because rings in A. cambagei are difficult to see, precluding traditional dendrochronology, we used elemental abundances of Ca and Sr as an annual chronometer back to 1962. Radiocarbon analysis confirmed that our dating of wood from two trees. We compared d 13 C and d 18 O from the a-cellulose of the dated wood over the most recent 10 years (n ¼ 10) to local climate records demonstrating significant relationships between d 18 O and precipitation (r ¼ À0.85, p < 0.002); mean monthly maximum temperature (r ¼ 0.69, p < 0.03); and drought indexes (CRU scPDSI 0.5 , r ¼ À0.89, p < 0.001) for February and March. Acacia cambagei may be useful in developing regional networks of climate proxies for drought. Using modern trees, in combination with architectural timbers, it may be possible to construct a multi-century, annually-resolved proxy-record of rainfall and temperature for semi-arid northeastern Australia.

Australian Acacia longifolia Invasibility: Geographic, Climate and Taxonomic Scales in Invaded Ranges

15th EMAPI International Conference on Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions, 2019

An unresolved problem in the invasibility study of the Australian Acacia longifolia species is that many of its invaded ranges are characterized by coastal environment systems occuring in the boundaries between continents with a long history of human presence which are classified as 'temperate zones' when they are functionally a mix of specific climate conditions (oceanic, humid, subtropical, mediterranean, and other different types). More problematically, this climate zone is widely regarded as the ecological niche of Acacia longifolia's invasive species distribution, because (i) the two Acacia longifolia species (A. longifolia subsp. longifolia and A. longifolia subsp. sophorae) occur predominantly in areas of coastal dunes with poor soils and ecosystems historically modified, and (ii) the temperate Australian regions where many of these species occur can also climatically support both native and non‐native distributions of A. longifolia. Here, we examine multiple lines of evidence to disentangle this issue on how ecological similarity is determined between different invaded ranges in order to explain the susceptibility to invasion by Acacia longifolia.