Location
The Warra Tall Eucalypt SuperSite is partly within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, which is managed for conservation, and partly within State forest, which is managed for multiple purposes including wood production.
Warra Tall Eucalypt was established as a Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site in 1998, and is one of Australia’s most scientifically productive. It is a hub for intensive, multi-disciplinary research to understand the fundamental ecological processes in E. obliqua forests and the long-term effects that management has on those processes in contrast with natural disturbance.
Current research is focussing on the bio-physical processes that support the biota and how they fluctuate across scales both spatial and temporal.
Detailed knowledge exists for many elements of the biota at Warra Tall Eucalypt their habitats, their distribution and their response to disturbance.
Importantly, research done at Warra Tall Eucalypt has directly driven improvements in forest management more generally, e.g. the introduction of variable retention silviculture in mature tall, wet eucalypt forests.
Key research objectives
- to understand fundamental ecological processes in E. obliqua wet forests
- to assess and monitor biodiversity and geodiversity
- to determine the long term effects of different forest management regimes on natural diversity and ecological processes and thus assess their sustainability
- where necessary, to develop alternative management regimes
- to provide an integrated multi-disciplinary focus which complements research programs elsewhere in Tasmania
- to link Tasmanian forest research with national and international programs having a long-term ecological focus
For more information on Warra Tall Eucalypt research: http://www.warra.com/warra/projects_search.html