Victorian Tall Eucalypt Forest Plot Network (Victorian Central Highlands Monitoring Project): Tree Fern Growth Study, Victoria, Australia, 2014

We measured 5 years of growth of 335 Cyathea australis and Dicksonia antarctica after a large wildfire in 2009 in south-eastern Australia. The ferns were in 4 separate geographic locations (Wallaby Creek, Marysville, Toolangi and O’Shannassy) and sites within each area had different environmental variables, which were measured (slope, aspect, elevation). Tree ferns had overall height measured using a tape measure and the new post-fire growth measured using calipers. The tree ferns were measured to determine average growth rates of the two species and which of the environmental variables were important for fern growth. We found growth rates of these two species were largely unaffected by static environmental variables or geographic location. However, growth rates were significantly related to initial height at the time of the fire; a finding consistent in both species and all geographic locations.