No abstract

Ecological degradation within areas of remnant forest may be amplified if the effects of fragmentation interact with the effects of other environmental disturbances such as wind storms. We used before-after comparisons to assess the effects of Tropical Cyclone Larry on remnant and continuous rainforest in the Wet Tropics uplands of north-eastern Australia. Vegetation structure was measured 3 years before the cyclone and 6 months afterwards, at eight continuous forest sites and eight remnants (6-37 ha), within 20 km of the cyclone's track. The cyclone caused extensive defoliation, felling and breakage of stems and branches (greatest among the trees >100 cm diameter which had around 50% stem loss), and increased litter and woody debris. Cyclone effects were strongly influenced by a site's spatial position (P = 0.005, 0.001 in multivariate analyses of overall damage). Maximum damage occurred 10-15 km south of the cyclone track, perhaps because of the additive effects of the west-moving air at the southern eyewall combined with the cyclone's own rapid westward movement. Most fragments were south of the cyclone track, as a consequence of spatially selective deforestation practices, and therefore, showed greatest damage. However, once the effects of spatial position were considered, the independent differences in cyclone effects between fragments and continuous forest were lost (P = 0.23, 0.41 when north-south distance was included as a covariate in analyses). The expected protection afforded by a continuous forest canopy seems to have disappeared in the face of extremely strong cyclonic winds and down-draughts. Nevertheless, an interaction between fragmentation and disturbance may yet occur, during the period of post-cyclone recovery, owing to the effects of landscape context on plant recruitment. For example, there was a higher diversity of exotic seedling germination in fragments, independent of the extent of cyclone damage.

We examined the impact of severe cyclone 'Larry' on the vegetation structure of monoculture and mixed species timber plantations, restoration plantings and reference sites in upland rainforests on the Atherton Tableland, north Queensland, Australia. Sites were initially assessed in 2000 and resurveyed in 2006, 6-8 months after the cyclone traversed the region. In both surveys, timber plantations had a relatively open canopy, grassy understorey and few shrubs or small-sized trees; whereas restoration plantings had a relatively closed canopy, an understorey of bare ground, leaf litter and rainforest seedlings, a high density of small-diameter trees and a moderate representation of special life forms characteristic of rainforest. Cyclone damage varied with tree size, site type, proximity to the cyclone and stem density. First, the proportion of trees that were severely damaged by the cyclone (major branches broken, stem snapped or pushed over) increased with the diameter of trees across all site types. Second, damage to larger-sized trees (>10 cm d.b.h., >20 cm d.b.h.) was proportionally highest in monoculture plantations, intermediate in mixed species plantations and rainforest, and lowest in restoration plantings. Third, within site types, damage levels decreased with distance from the cyclone track and with stem density.There was no evidence that topographical position influenced damage levels, at least for timber plantations.We tentatively attribute the high levels of damage experienced by timber plantations to their relatively open structure and the large size of stems in plantations. Restoration plantings generally escaped severe damage by the cyclone, but their continued development towards rainforest conditions may require a coordinated monitoring and maintenance programme to address the potential threat of weed invasion.