Changes in the vegetation of a highland area of north-eastern Tasmania are described and related to a change 150 years ago from Aboriginal to settled land use. Expansion of rainforest dominated by Nothofagus into areas previously dominated by Eucalyptus, and of Eucalyptus forest on to grassland that occupied former rainforesi areas is accounted for by local differences in frequency and severity of fires since about 1835.Successional relationships amongst 12 vegetation types are defined, and discussed in relation to three models of vegetational succession.

Value management (VM) is widely accepted as an important tool in the management of projects. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, this paper attempts to add to the qualitative exploration of VM, by investigating the attitudes and experiences of VM facilitators within major UK cost consultancies. Clients cut across all sectors, but relatively few subscribe to a formal VM process. Despite the acknowledged importance of early interventions, the focus for many VM studies tends to be at spaces and element levels, rather than at the earlier concept level. VM continues to be used as a cost-cutting exercise, particularly so on projects which are experiencing problems. Formal VM rarely extends beyond tender stage. Workshops remain the common format, but these are often compressed, due to commercial pressures, into a half-day. Techniques are adapted to suit the needs of the project, team and client rather than being rigidly applied according to the theoretical approaches outlined in the literature. The potential to integrate VM and risk management (RM) services is recognized by all, although such integration is yet to be fully developed and implemented.Quantity surveying practice, risk management, value management,

Partnering provides a major opportunity for improving project performance, whilst offering direct benefits to the whole of the supply chain. Many research studies reinforce this assertion although there is less critical analysis examining the nature of partnering in practice and whether the claims made for it are consistently justified. The experiences of commercial surveyors and managers within the UK construction industry have been gathered in a pilot study, drawing on the opinions of 48 commercial managers employed by a leading national contractor. The perceptions and experiences of partnering relationships are generally positive, although the early optimism at the beginning of such arrangements is seldom sustained throughout the project lifecycle. Attitudes to partnering are similar whether the relationship is upstream (client/main contractor) or downstream (main contractor/subcontractor). The growth in popularity of alternative procurement methods and statutory adjudication are both regarded as having placed contracting parties on a more equal footing. However in today's competitive environment, contractors continue to operate on tight margins and, common to all project stakeholders, the financial imperative remains the commercial manager's principal consideration. Trust is hard-earned and relationships are still characterised by a cost driven agenda.partnering, commercial relationships, trust, procurement,

In many highland forests of Eucalyptus delegatensis in Tasmania the establishment and healthy growth of eucalypts is promoted and maintained by fire. In the absence of fire, secondary succession from eucalypt forest to rainforest occurs, during which the eucalypts decline and die prematurely. On sites that are prone to radiation frost severe reduction or removal of a tree canopy allows a sward of tussock grasses to develop, in competition with which seedlings of eucalypts decline in growth and a high proportion dies.

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