TY  - JOUR
AU  - Zimmer, HC
AU  - Offord, CA
AU  - Auld, TD
AU  - Baker, PJ
Y2  - 2021/02/05
Y1  - 2016/07/12
SN  - 1932-6203
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/11343/260047
AB  - Translocation can reduce extinction risk by increasing population size and geographic range, and is increasingly being used in the management of rare and threatened plant species. A critical determinant of successful plant establishment is light environment. Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine) is a critically endangered conifer, with a wild population of 83 mature trees and a highly restricted distribution of less than 10 km2. We used under-planting to establish a population of W. nobilis in a new rainforest site. Because its optimal establishment conditions were unknown, we conducted an experimental translocation, planting in a range of different light conditions from deeply shaded to high light gaps. Two years after the experimental translocation, 85% of plants had survived. There were two distinct responses: very high survival (94%) but very low growth, and lower survival (69%) and higher growth, associated with initial plant condition. Overall survival of translocated W. nobilis was strongly increased in planting sites with higher light, in contrast to previous studies demonstrating long-term survival of wild W. nobilis juveniles in deep shade. Translocation by under-planting may be useful in establishing new populations of shade-tolerant plant species, not least by utilizing the range of light conditions that occur in forest understories.
LA  - English
PB  - PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
T1  - Establishing a Wild, Ex Situ Population of a Critically Endangered Shade-Tolerant Rainforest Conifer: A Translocation Experiment
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pone.0157559
IS  - PLoS One
VL  - 11
IS  - 7
OP  - FT120100715
L1  - /bitstream/handle/11343/260047/PMC4942103.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
ER  -