Using gravel pits as novel fire refugia for the threatened Tasmanian paleoendemic conifer Athrotaxis cupressoides

• Published in: Restoration ecology Vol. 33; no. 4
• Main Authors: Prior, Lynda D., Nichols, Scott C., French, Ben J., Staubmann, Herbert, Bowman, David M. J. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01.05.2025
• Subjects: climate change; conifers; conservation gardening; ecological restoration; fertilizer; fertilizers; gravel; plant growth; plant mortality; refuge habitats; restoration planting; species; Tasmania; threatened plants; translocation; wilderness; wildfire; wildfires; Tasmania
• ISSN: 1061-2971; 1526-100X
• DOI: 10.1111/rec.70003

Athrotaxis cupressoides is an endemic conifer restricted to montane areas of Tasmania. It is slow‐growing and vulnerable to the increasing wildfire activity associated with climate change. We explored the novel idea that disused gravel pits could serve as artificial fire refugia for transplanted populations. We compared survival, growth, and response to fertilizer of nursery‐grown A. cupressoides transplants in these artificial refugia, which had mineral soils, and in burnt and unburnt sites in wilderness areas, which had organic soils. Survival over the 16‐month trial increased with initial transplant height and was slightly higher in the gravel pits (97%) than the wilderness areas (89%). Height growth of unfertilized plants was slow, especially in the unburnt wilderness sites and gravel pits. However, fertilizer boosted growth most strongly in the gravel pits, to rates similar to those of fertilized plants in unburnt wilderness sites. Our results show that it is feasible to reintroduce A. cupressoides into populations eliminated by wildfire. They also demonstrate the capacity to reclaim gravel pits by creating new localized populations of this iconic species. Thus, denuded gravel pits can be re‐imagined as fire refugia to help maintain populations of A. cupressoides and other long‐lived but fire‐sensitive plants in the wild.