Temporal fragmentation of a critically endangered forest ecosystem

Abstract

Landscape change and habitat fragmentation is increasingly affecting forests worldwide. Assessments of patterns of spatial cover in forests over time can be critical as they reveal important information about landscape condition. In this study, we assessed landscape patterns across the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) and Alpine Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria between 1999 and 2019. These forests have experienced major disturbance over the past 20 years through a major fire (in 2009) and extensive industrial logging. We found that around 70% and 65% of the Mountain Ash and Alpine Ash forest areas, respectively, were either disturbed or within 200 m of a disturbed area. Inclusion of planned logging increased these disturbance categories to 72% and 70%, respectively. We also found that the isolation of Mountain Ash core areas (patches of undisturbed forest >1000 ha) increased significantly (P < 0.05) over our study period, with the proximity between disturbed areas conversely increasing significantly (P < 0.05). This means that continued and planned disturbance through industrial logging will have an amplified adverse effect on remaining undisturbed ash forest patches, which will become smaller and more dispersed across the landscape.

Extending vegetation site data and ensemble models to predict patterns of foliage cover and species richness for plant functional groups

“…Our approach of using site-scaled species data collected from a fixed-area (0.04 ha) plots to inform landscape models is useful because species aggregated to growth forms provide very tailored, habitat-specific information for species presence, abundance and distribution. Furthermore, assessments of the spatial patterns of variation in the foliage cover and species richness of functional groups can be critical as they can reveal information about landscape condition and fragmentation (Saunders et al 1991;Taylor and Lindenmayer 2020) as well as understanding patterns important for predicting the future ecological integrity of native vegetation (Oliver et al 2021). These models are useful in supporting conservation and land management decision making for multiple species across spatial scales.…”

Time turnover of species in bird communities: the role of landscape diversity and climate change

“…Deterioration of hydrological conditions led to a decrease in the number of Ardea cinerea, which in turn led to a decrease in all species of the community without significant turnover. Habitat change at the landscape level affects the distribution and abundance of organisms (Taylor & Lindenmayer, 2020) and, for specialized species, habitat reduction and fragmentation can disrupt key biological processes such as reproduction, dispersion and resource development (Saunders et al, 1991;Blandón et al, 2016).…”

Diversifying Forest Landscape Management—A Case Study of a Shift from Native Forest Logging to Plantations in Australian Wet Forests

“…The land tenure of mountain ash forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria consists largely of state forests (~92,000 ha) and national parks (~38,000 ha) (where logging is not permitted) [37]. Land management resides with Parks Victoria for national parks and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) for state forests [38].…”

“…Land management resides with Parks Victoria for national parks and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) for state forests [38]. Approximately 60,000 ha of mountain ash forest from the state forests has been allocated to the Victorian government's logging business, VicForests, for the purposes of logging for pulp logs and timber [37,39]. DELWP is the land manager and service provider for state forests, where it supports the government in setting and determining policy [40].…”