The phytosociology and synecology of Tasmanian vegetation with Callitris

Abstract

Eleven discernible floristic plant communities were identified in vegetatlon containing Callitris in Tasmania. C.rhomboidea and C. oblonga largely segregate into two sets of communities. These sets occupy distinctly different parts of the environmental range of Callitris in Tasmania. Callitris co-occurs with at least 14% of the Tasmanian native higher plant flora in rainforest, wet eucalypt forest, dry eucalypt forest, grassy woodland, scrub and heath, and is dominant in some quadrats of most communities. The major measured correlates of floristic variation in the data set were temperature and precipitation conditions. The combination of the wide ecological range demonstrated by the data set and the highly restricted nature of Callitris distribution suggests that the taxon has a range much diminished by shorterm perturbation. Callitris may have been part of an extensive dry rainforest formation in eastern Tasmania before people invaded the area.