Tasmanian temperate rainforests

Tasmanian temperate rain forests
Lower Gordon River, Tasmania
Ecoregion territory (in purple)
Ecology
RealmAustralasian
Biometemperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Borders
Geography
Area31,340 km2 (12,100 sq mi)
CountryAustralia
StatesTasmania
Coordinates42°54′S 146°00′E / 42.9°S 146°E / -42.9; 146
Conservation
Conservation statusVulnerable
Protected16,649 km² (50%)[1]

The Tasmanian temperate rain forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in western Tasmania. The ecoregion is part of the Australasian realm, which includes Tasmania and Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and adjacent islands.[2]

Rainforest communities in Australia are classified as closed forests in which the canopy comprises 70–100% cover.[3] It can be divided into tropical, subtropical, monsoon and temperate rainforest. Tasmanian rainforest is classified and as cool temperate rainforest, and represents the most floristically complex and best developed form of this forest type in Australia.[4] In Tasmania, they can be found in the West, Savage River National Park, South West, North East and in patches on the East Coast.[3] On the mainland of Australia, cool temperate rainforest have a wide variety of woodland trees, but Tasmania only has a limited number of woodland and vascular plants such as mosses, liverworts, lichen and fungi.[5] Because of this, the definition of Tasmanian cool temperate rainforest was redefined in the 1980s to allow for communities that did not meet the canopy requirements and clearly separate cool temperate rainforest from mixed forest; The current definition states that cool temperate rainforests are those with trees usually greater than 8 m (26 ft) in height and capable of regenerating in the absence of large scale catastrophic events, such as fire.[3] These forests are climax vegetation and are dominated by angiosperms such as Nothofagus cunninghamii (myrtle beech), Atherosperma moschatum (sassafras), and Eucryphia lucida (leatherwood) as well as gymnosperms such as Athrotaxis selaginoides (King Billy Pine), Lagarostrobos franklinii (huon or macquarie pine) and Phyllocladus aspleniifolius (celery-top pine).[6] The limited number of woody species is thought to be due to repeated glaciation.[7][8]

Tasmanian cool temperate rainforest can be divided into four types: Callidendrous rainforest, Thamnic rainforest, Implicate rainforest and Open Montane. These four major types differ in many of their characteristics such as structure, floristics, distribution, level of endemism and ecology.[3]

  1. ^ Dinerstein, Eric [in German]; Olson, David; Joshi, Anup; et al. (2017-04-05). "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm". BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545, Supplemental material 2 table S1b. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. ISSN 0006-3568. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference busby was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d Reid, J. B., Hill, R. S., Brown, M. J. & Hovenden, M. J. (2005) Vegetation of Tasmania, Australian Biological Resources Study. ISBN 064644512X.
  4. ^ Adam, Paul (1992). Australian rainforests. Oxford University Press.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference jarman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Tabor, John, et al. "Colonisation of clearfelled coupes by rainforest tree species from mature mixed forest edges, Tasmania, Australia." Forest Ecology and Management 240.1 (2007): 13–23.
  7. ^ Worth, J. R. F., Jordan, G. J., Mckinnon, G. E. & Vaillancourt, R. E. (2009). "The major Australian cool temperate rainforest tree Nothofagus cunninghamii withstood Pleistocene glacial aridity within multiple regions: evidence from the chloroplast". New Phytologist. 182 (2): 519–532. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02761.x. PMID 19210718.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Tasmanian temperate rainforests". Digital Observatory for Protected Areas. Retrieved October 19, 2020.