Worth et al. 2016 Athrotaxis clones.pdf (463.95 kB)
Gondwanan conifer clones imperilled by bushfire
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 00:18 authored by Worth, JRP, Sakaguchi, S, Rann, KD, Bowman, CJW, Ito, M, Gregory JordanGregory Jordan, David BowmanDavid BowmanGlobal increases in fire frequency driven by anthropogenic greenhouse emissions and land use change could threaten unique and ancient species by creeping into long-term fire refugia. The perhumid and mountainous western half of Tasmania is a globally important refugium for palaeo-endemic, fire intolerant lineages, especially conifers. Reproductive strategy will be crucial to the resilience of these organisms under warmer, dryer and more fire prone climates. This study analysed clonal versus sexual reproduction in old growth plots dominated by the palaeo-endemic conifer Athrotaxis cupressoides (Cupressaceae), a species that lacks any traits to tolerate frequent landscape fire. Across most of the seven plots the amount of sexually derived individuals was lower than clonally derived with, on average, 60% of all stems belonging to the same multi-locus lineage (MLL) (i.e. were clonal). Some MLLs were large spanning over 10 s of metres and consisted of up to 62 stems. The high mortality after fire and the rarity of sexual regeneration means that the range of this fire-intolerant species is likely to contract under enhanced fire regimes and has a limited capacity to disperse via seed to available fire refugia in the landscape.
Funding
Australian Research Council
History
Publication title
Scientific ReportsVolume
6Article number
33930Number
33930Pagination
1-6ISSN
2045-2322Department/School
School of Natural SciencesPublisher
Nature Publishing GroupPlace of publication
United KingdomRights statement
Copyright 2016 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Repository Status
- Open