baumzaehlen - Primeval Forests & Their Trees

Barrington Tops National Park (739 km ² ) is a part of Gondwana Rainforest of Australia World Heritage Site which is composed of several separate parts. The park comprises an ancient volcano rising to an elevation of over 1500 metres. Due to fertile soils on basalt, demanding rainforest trees thrive in sheltered valleys; low elevation rainforest is classified as subtropical and Nothofagus moorei (Antarctic beech) forests at high elevations as cool temperate ¹ . Fire-dependent eucalypts penetrate to the sites which burn more easily, like ridges. Annual precipitation is approx. 1500 mm with maximum in summer ² . Persistent fogs further increase the “precipitation” ² .

Tree species diversity at high elevations is relatively low. Identifying high elevation rainforest trees is not difficult but Eucalyptus identification is laborious (for more about Eucalyptus identification, see Snowy River National Park ). N. moorei only forms tall forests as small groves at sheltered sites, mainly on upper slopes ³ . It achieves heights of over 40 metres, and stand basal area may exceed that of any other New South Wales rainforest type ⁴ . Dicksonia antarctica (soft tree fern) strongly characterizes these groves. It is very resistant to damage by fire and surprisingly may live for 50 0–1 000 years ⁵ . The high plateau is mostly covered by Eucalyptus pauciflora (snow gum) forest which is considered subalpine woodland rather than rainforest, despite being as moist as adjacent N. moorei forest. This is because Eucalyptus spp. are not considered rainforest trees. (For more about the definition of Australian rainforest, see Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park .)

Off-trail hiking and camping are allowed but difficult: slopes are steep and outside well developed rainforest progress is often extremely slow due to thorny climbers.

References:

1 Keith, D. (2004): Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes, the Native Vegetation of New South Wales and the ACT. Dep. of Environment and Conservation (NSW).

2 Floyd, A. (1990): Australian Rainforests in New South Wales, Volume 1. Surrey Beatty & Sons.

3 Zoete, T. (2000): Vegetation Survey of the Barrington Tops and Mount Royal National Parks for use in Fire Management . Cunninghamia 6 (3).

4 Read, J. & Brown, M. J. (1996): Ecology of Australian Nothofagus Forests. In Veblen, T. T., Hill, R. S. & Read, J. (eds.): The Ecology and Biogeography of Nothofagus Forests . Yale University Press.

5 Hunt, Davidson, Unwin & Close (2002): Ecophysiology of the Soft Tree Fern, Dicksonia antarctica Labill. Austral Ecology 27 , 360–368.

Official site:

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/Barrington-Tops-National-Park