Cool Temperate Rainforests
A rainforest is usually identified by two factors:
- It grows in an area of high rainfall.
- It does not require a disturbance such as fire in order to regenerate.
Throughout the world there are many types of rainforest -the most common are named after the climate in which they grow.
The rainforest found in Tasmania is known as cool temperate rainforest.
Cool temperate rainforest grows in areas with more than 1200mm of annual rainfall, and is dominated by species such as Myrtle (Nothofagus Cunninghamii), Leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida), Celery-Top Pine (Phyllocladus Asplendiifolius), Sassafras (Atherosperma Moschatum), Huon Pine (Lagarostrobos Franklinii), King Billy Pine (Athrotaxis Selaginoides) and Deciduous Beech (Nothofagus Gunnii).
These species can grow and regenerate under a dense forest canopy where they receive little sunlight, and they do not require broad scale disturbances such as fire to regenerate.
Tasmania contains 95% of Australia's cool temperate rainforest, and it is very different from rainforest found in warmer areas of Australia.
In Tasmania, four different types of cool temperate rainforest are recognised.
Each of these types has quite distinctive features:
- Callidendrous
Has lots of tall trees, predominantly myrtle or sassafras, and an open understorey, with few shrubs or ferns. - Thamnic
Contains medium height trees; a fairly open canopy and many shrubs form the understorey. - Implicate
Has short trees (less than20 metres) intermingled with dense tangled shrubs. - Montane
Occurs at high altitudes and is dominated by pencil pines and deciduous beech, the trees usually remain less than 15 metres in height.
Differences between each of these four types of cool temperate rainforest occur mainly because of differences in soil, rainfall, altitude and aspect.
Each type can be divided further into sub-groups such as thamnic gallery or open montane rainforest.