Long-unburnt stands of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Spreng) are exceedingly rare in the Victorian Alps: implications for their conservation and management

John W. Morgan; Michael Shackleton; Zac C. Walker

doi:10.1071/BT23068

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Contents Vol 72(2)

Long-unburnt stands of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Spreng) are exceedingly rare in the Victorian Alps: implications for their conservation and management

John W. Morgan

^A ^B ^* , Michael Shackleton ^A ^B and Zac C. Walker ^A ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Research Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic. 3086, Australia.

^B Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic. 3086, Australia.

^C School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: J.Morgan@latrobe.edu.au

Handling Editor: Ben Gooden

Australian Journal of Botany 72, BT23068 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT23068

Submitted: 15 August 2023 Accepted: 29 January 2024 Published: 20 February 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

The nature of Australia’s high mountains is changing. Recent, repeated landscape-scale fires have burnt much of the subalpine forests dominated by snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora). Long-unburnt snow gum forests are important for ecosystem services, have socio-cultural benefits, and conservation values, but they are now exceedingly rare, comprising <1% of snow gum forests in the Victorian Alps. We identify where long-unburnt snow gum stands persist in the Victorian Alps and outline why management intervention is necessary to protect unburnt refuges and, more broadly, to allow mature/adult stands (such as occur on the Baw Baw Plateau) to develop into future old forests.

Keywords: alpine ecology, alpine regeneration, conservation biology, ecosystem dynamics, plant ecology.

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