Victorian Tall Eucalypt Forest Plot Network: Stag and Fire Severity Observations in Ash Forest in the Central Highlands of Victoria, South-eastern Australia,1998–2011

Abstract: In 1998, 1129 large trees with cavities (i.e. both living and dead stags) were mapped and permanently marked at 156 field sites. Each stag was assigned one of nine tree forms or decay classes based on observable characteristics. Each time the trees were re-surveyed, an additional 3 hour reconnaissance was undertaken at each site to determine if any new cavity trees had been recruited since the previous survey.

These data were used in the IUCN Red List of Ecosystem Assessment of Burns, E. L., Lindenmayer, D. B., Stein, J., Blanchard, W., McBurney, L., Blair, D. & Banks, S. C. (2015). Ecosystem assessment of mountain ash forest in the Central Highlands of Victoria, South-eastern Australia. Austral Ecology, http://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12200.

The data were subsequently used in a case study as part of the Collaborative Environment for Ecosystem Science Research and Analysis (CoESRA) (see https://www.coesra.org.au).

This is part of a much larger dataset that began in 1983 when the Victorian Tall Eucalypt Forest Plot Network research plots commenced. These data have been collected as part of an ongoing program to examine key relationships in different vegetation types; within and across different regions and in response to different kinds of disturbance and management regimes.

A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Victorian Tall Eucalypt Forest Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://doi.org/10.25911/5c4445118125d

Project funding: This data was collected between 1998 and 2011 and was funded by Parks Victoria, Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment and Australian Research Council Discovery program.

Between 2012 and 2018 the Plot Network infrastructure was funded as part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN). LTERN is a Facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). TERN is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.