Evidence for ecologically significant changes in climate during the post-glacial period in New Zealand: Paleo-ecological evidence from pollen and spores

[First paragraph...]
I would "'like to regard the postglacial period as that following the maximum of the last major ice advance, or the last 18,000 years before the present, whichever proves to be the longer. The term postglacial implies that the present day climate differs essentially from a full glacial climate. The difference is such as to produce important changes in the vegetation, which will have adjusted itself to the altered conditions, or is in the process of becoming adjusted. Can we reconstruct this process to any great extent and if so, what do we learn about climate history up to the beginning of European settlement and of historical records? Inevitably time comes into consideration because if we want to reconstruct the pattern of vegetation change, and from this infer climate changewe must have some opinion about the chronological relationship between the pieces of evidence brought to light.