Scientists have used 2000 fossilised pollen samples to discover what the NZ climate was like 34 million years ago. The work was based on fossilised tree pollen that scientists extracted from sedimentary rocks from around the country over the past 60 years. This was the first time such a long record of New Zealand terrestrial climate had been compiled in this way. In their database, the scientists have used pollen from about 75 plant genera - mostly trees - and the distribution of different species tells a story about temperature and rainfall in different epochs in New Zealand's history. ``This database of fossil observations is a really essential resource to help us answer a range of questions about New Zealand's natural history,'' Prebble said.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 02, 2017 05:53 UTC