1. Long-term monitoring of tropical
rainforests of eastern Australia
DJ Metcalfe, M Liddell, MG Bradford & PT Green

2. Overview
Rainforests of eastern Australia
History research in tropical rainforests
Insights:
maintenance of diversity
role of disturbance
dynamics of vertebrate populations
weeds and feral animal
management
New opportunities
Summary
Canopy crane; photo P. Byrnes

3. Rainforest in eastern Australia
c. 0.2% of the Australian landmass
Significant biodiversity
Gondwanan heritage
Culturally important
World Heritage status & impacts
Tourist drawcard
Climate dependent
Broad vegetation groups;
Queensland Herbarium 2009

4. Past history and current status
Extensive clearance over past 100 years
targeted clearance
Most now protected
National Parks
World Heritage legislation
Vegetation Management Act (1992)
Ongoing threats
fragmentation
weeds & feral animals Sugar cane, coastal lowlands
climate change

5. Research history
Long history of research,
but few long-term studies
Connell plots were established in 1964
CSIRO permanent plots 1972-80
Emphasis on understanding dynamics
of rainforest under natural conditions,
including seed production, seedling
dynamics, tree growth and mortality
Peter Green, Davies Creek plot

6. Research history (2)
The Australian Canopy Crane went
into operation in 1999
canopy invertebrate biology
phenology
plant physiology
micrometeorology
hydrology & nutrient cycling
Canopy crane; photo P. Byrnes

7. Vertebrate studies
Large number of single-species
studies, and short term studies on
communities
Centre for Tropical Biodiversity &
Climate Change at James Cook
University altitudinal & latitudinal
surveys since 1990s
CSIRO monitoring of spectacled flying
fox and cassowary populations from
early 2000s
Southern cassowary

8. Maintenance of species diversity
Conceptual developments:
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis (over 5,000
citations) explaining how high diversity is maintained
in complex ecosystems
Janzen-Connell model relating predator-prey spatial
relationships
CTFS plot network – 47 plots in 21 countries, 4.5
million trees and 8,500 species.

9. Role of natural disturbances
Pre-existing community and environmental data allows
impacts of natural disturbances to be ascertained, and
recovery followed
TCs Winifred, Rona, Justin, Larry, Monica and Yasi
Phytophthora die-back episodes
Drought
Heat stress
Fire
Management responses informed and modified, e.g.
cassowary feeding, weed control

10. Impacts on vertebrates
Multi-year trends and impacts on
vertebrate populations
- flying fox movements tied to
phenology and weather
- upland arboreal mammals
affected by increasing temperatures
- cassowary movements and
impacts of cyclones
Bennett’s tree-kangaroo;
photo C. Nichols

11. Ecosystem services
Spatial and temporal dynamics
flowering and pollen release
pollinator abundance
fruit production
carbon sequestration
Black bean flowers

12. Invasive species management
Establishment, proliferation and
impacts of invasive plant species
Effects of cyclones, transport
corridors and fragmentation on weed
threat
Spread, impacts and recovery from
pathogens – chytrid fungus,
Phytophthora, myrtle rust?
Clidemia hirta flower

13. Climate change scenarios
Long-term data has also been fundamental
to development of ecosystem response
scenarios to anticipated climate change
forest growth – faster, but increased mortality?
forest distribution – fire and cyclones as drivers?
vertebrate distribution – onwards and upwards?
diseases – changes in vector distributions?
invasive species – changed communities?
TC Larry

14. New opportunities
National and international collaborations
TERN, OzFlux, NEON, CTFS, TROBIT
Networked data sharing
Eco-Informatics, agency collaborations
Innovative data collection
remote sensing, biosensors
UAV IR photography

15. Closing comments
1. Community resilience also means inertia to change
• slow turnover rates, delayed response times, long recovery
• short-term studies cannot identify such change
• long-term monitoring required to achieve understanding
2. Long-term local investment critical
• opportunities for scientists to build careers in regions
• long-term engagement with communities, agencies
• long-perspective insights into community change

16. Acknowledgements
LTERN for the opportunity to collate data, opinions and aspirations.
Funding sources which supported collection of the previously unpublished research data
reported here included the Australian National University, James Cook University, La
Trobe University, University of Cambridge, University of California at Santa Barbara,
CSIRO, the US National Science Foundation, the Australian Research Council, Earthwatch,
Daintree Discovery Centre and the Queensland Premier’s Department.
Australian Government funding has been made available through programs such as the
Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology & Management (CRC-TREM),
the Rainforest CRC and the Marine & Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF).
We also acknowledge the contributions of David Hilbert, Joanne Isaac, Helen Murphy,
Scott Parsons, Justin Welbergen, David Westcott, Steve Williams and Yvette Williams who
provided unpublished data or interpretations for inclusion, and Cassandra Nichols and
Peter Byrnes kindly agreed for us to use their images.
A vast array of JCU, La Trobe, UQ and Griffith Uni staff and students, CSIRO staff and
innumerable volunteers assisted in data collection.