Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island
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...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7175997 2023-05-15T18:05:20+02:00 Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island PICKARD, JOHN 2006-07-28 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7175997/ https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x en eng Blackwell Publishing Ltd http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7175997/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x This article is being made freely available through PubMed Central as part of the COVID-19 public health emergency response. It can be used for unrestricted research re-use and analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source, for the duration of the public health emergency. Article Text 2006 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x 2020-04-26T00:50:18Z 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. Text Rattus rattus PubMed Central (PMC) Austral Ecology 7 2 161 170 |
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Article PICKARD, JOHN Catastrophic disturbance and vegetation on Little Slope, Lord Howe Island |
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description |
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 |
Text |
author |
PICKARD, JOHN |
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 |
Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7175997/ https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7175997/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x |
op_rights |
This article is being made freely available through PubMed Central as part of the COVID-19 public health emergency response. It can be used for unrestricted research re-use and analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source, for the duration of the public health emergency. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01589.x |
container_title |
Austral Ecology |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
161 |
op_container_end_page |
170 |
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1766176800931577856 |