Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island
Abstract Little Slope is a series of debris avalanche deposits below basalt cliffs 700 m high at the southern end of Lord Howe Island (31°35′S 159°05′E). There are five distinct physiographic areas on the slope, each separated by sharp boundaries which mostly correspond to boundaries between feature...
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x 2024-06-02T08:13:43+00:00 Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island PICKARD, JOHN 1982 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Australian Journal of Ecology volume 7, issue 2, page 161-170 ISSN 0307-692X journal-article 1982 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x 2024-05-03T10:50:28Z Abstract Little Slope is a series of debris avalanche deposits below basalt cliffs 700 m high at the southern end of Lord Howe Island (31°35′S 159°05′E). There are five distinct physiographic areas on the slope, each separated by sharp boundaries which mostly correspond to boundaries between features on the cliffs above. The physiography is a consequence of a series of landslides of different, but unknown, ages. A model of the physiographic history is presented. Each physiographic area supports a different vegetation community, also separated by sharp boundaries. The present structure of two communities , Melaleuca howeana scrub and Howea forsterana forest, is a consequence of damage by feral animals. Melaleuca scrub has replaced Cyperus lucidus sedgeland destroyed by goats (Capra hircus) browsing from 1914 until their extermination in 1955. Howea forest has a markedly unimodal age distribution with very few small individuals of the dominant palms. This is a result of the combined effects of browsing by goats on small palms, and seed predation by black rats (Rattus rattus) from the 1920s, preventing regeneration. Unless rat numbers are periodically reduced to reduce seed predation, regeneration may be insufficient to guarantee long‐term survival of the forest. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus Wiley Online Library Australian Journal of Ecology 7 2 161 170 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Little Slope is a series of debris avalanche deposits below basalt cliffs 700 m high at the southern end of Lord Howe Island (31°35′S 159°05′E). There are five distinct physiographic areas on the slope, each separated by sharp boundaries which mostly correspond to boundaries between features on the cliffs above. The physiography is a consequence of a series of landslides of different, but unknown, ages. A model of the physiographic history is presented. Each physiographic area supports a different vegetation community, also separated by sharp boundaries. The present structure of two communities , Melaleuca howeana scrub and Howea forsterana forest, is a consequence of damage by feral animals. Melaleuca scrub has replaced Cyperus lucidus sedgeland destroyed by goats (Capra hircus) browsing from 1914 until their extermination in 1955. Howea forest has a markedly unimodal age distribution with very few small individuals of the dominant palms. This is a result of the combined effects of browsing by goats on small palms, and seed predation by black rats (Rattus rattus) from the 1920s, preventing regeneration. Unless rat numbers are periodically reduced to reduce seed predation, regeneration may be insufficient to guarantee long‐term survival of the forest. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
PICKARD, JOHN |
spellingShingle |
PICKARD, JOHN Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island |
author_facet |
PICKARD, JOHN |
author_sort |
PICKARD, JOHN |
title |
Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island |
title_short |
Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island |
title_full |
Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island |
title_fullStr |
Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island |
title_sort |
catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on little slope, lord howe island |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
1982 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Australian Journal of Ecology volume 7, issue 2, page 161-170 ISSN 0307-692X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x |
container_title |
Australian Journal of Ecology |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
161 |
op_container_end_page |
170 |
_version_ |
1800737316358062080 |