16. A Comparison of the Ecology and Conservation
Management of Cool Temperate Rainforest in
Tasmania and the Americas
Michael J. Brown and Jennifer Read
Cool temperate rainforests reach their greatest extent in the Pacific
Northwest of America and on the western coasts of South America, New
Zealand , and Tasmania. The purpose of this book is to focus on the comparative responses to global change of ecological systems in North and
South America. However the floristic affinities of the forests of the east
and west Pacific in the Southern Hemisphere, the generality of climate
change, ozone depletion, and atmospheric pollution, together with the
different patterns of land use, provide a substantial basis for a longitudinal
as well as latitudinal comparison of the effects of global change.
Much of the temperate forest of Australia and Tasmania is predominantly sclerophyllous and is dominated by Eucalyptus. These sclerophyll
forests are found mainly in drier areas , but they extend into high-rainfall
areas when anthropogenic, topographic, and climatic factors interact to
produce fire return intervals of less than 80 to 100 years. Their floristic
composition and ecology, as well as the management requirements for
conservation and timber harvesting, are generally different from those of
the rainforests in Australia, New Zealand , and the Americas. These
sclerophyll forests will not be considered further here , except when their
ecology impinges on that of the rainforests.
Rainforests dominated by Nothofagus spp. are confined to Australasia
and southern South America. There is an estimated one million ha of
such forest in Australia (RAC, 1991) and most of this occurs in Tasmania
320
Management of Cool Temperate Rainforest in
Tasmania and the Americas
Michael J. Brown and Jennifer Read
Cool temperate rainforests reach their greatest extent in the Pacific
Northwest of America and on the western coasts of South America, New
Zealand , and Tasmania. The purpose of this book is to focus on the comparative responses to global change of ecological systems in North and
South America. However the floristic affinities of the forests of the east
and west Pacific in the Southern Hemisphere, the generality of climate
change, ozone depletion, and atmospheric pollution, together with the
different patterns of land use, provide a substantial basis for a longitudinal
as well as latitudinal comparison of the effects of global change.
Much of the temperate forest of Australia and Tasmania is predominantly sclerophyllous and is dominated by Eucalyptus. These sclerophyll
forests are found mainly in drier areas , but they extend into high-rainfall
areas when anthropogenic, topographic, and climatic factors interact to
produce fire return intervals of less than 80 to 100 years. Their floristic
composition and ecology, as well as the management requirements for
conservation and timber harvesting, are generally different from those of
the rainforests in Australia, New Zealand , and the Americas. These
sclerophyll forests will not be considered further here , except when their
ecology impinges on that of the rainforests.
Rainforests dominated by Nothofagus spp. are confined to Australasia
and southern South America. There is an estimated one million ha of
such forest in Australia (RAC, 1991) and most of this occurs in Tasmania
320