The ecology of Athrotaxis D. Don (Taxodiaceae) I. Stand structure and regeneration of A. cupressoides

Abstract

Athrotaxis cupressoides forms stands of varying size class and age class structure in the high subalpine and alpine environments of Tasmania. As with some other southern hemisphere gymnosperms with great longevity, A. cupressoides does not successfully regenerate in dense forest stands without disturb- ance but does so in many open stands. Vegetative regeneration through root suckers occurs in many such stands. Suckers are most frequent in bogs and least evident in blockstreams. There has been little successful seedling or sucker regeneration in open stands in the east of the range of the species since European occupation of the Central Plateau. Exclosure experiments and field observations show that seedlings, suckers and adult foliage are heavily grazed by introduced placental and native marsupial mammals.