SummaryPurple‐flowered Wattle (Acacia purpureopetala) has a Vulnerable status under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act (1992) and is listed as Critically Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999). It grows in eucalypt woodlands of North Queensland. Its post‐fire response was examined to better understand its ecology and management requirements. Before and after fire surveys found Purple‐flowered Wattle is a fire‐killed ‘obligate seeder’ with abundant fire‐promoted germination, but limited recruitment in the absence of fire, highlighting the importance of regular burning for generating new plants. Nearly half of Purple‐flowered Wattle seedlings began producing seed in their second year, indicating a population tolerant of frequent burning. Combined, the abundant fire‐promoted recruitment and rapidly maturing seedlings suggest regular patchy fires that allow some mature plants to survive unburnt while promoting recruitment in burnt areas would benefit the population. A laboratory trial found percentage germination after 3 weeks was significantly higher for seeds treated by soaking in hot water for 5 minutes (31% germination), compared with those soaked in ambient temperature water (4% germination). However, by 5 weeks, germination differences between seed treatment were not statistically significant. The apparent discrepancy where unheated seeds eventually germinated in a laboratory setting, yet in situ germination was almost completely restricted to the post‐fire environment, warrants further investigation. It may be that successful germination and seedling establishment in woodlands requires the rapid removal of physical dormancy, or perhaps keeping unheated seed constantly moist for 5 weeks in a laboratory trial is simply an unnatural treatment producing a germination response not relevant to ecosystem function. The abundant fire‐triggered germination and rapid maturity of seedlings, combined with the known population number (>4,000 plants) and distribution range (850 km2), support existing recommendations that Purple‐flowered Wattle warrants a Vulnerable rather than Critically Endangered Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) status, as is current at the state level. Management that includes regular patchy burning with good soil moisture that reduces the extent and intensity of individual fires is likely to benefit the long‐term preservation of this restricted species and associated species of its ecosystems.

Rhodomyrtus verecunda A.J.Ford & Peter G. Wilson from north-east Queensland, Australia, is formally described and illustrated. Notes on habitat, distribution and conservation status are provided, as are details of how it can be distinguished from R. macrocarpa, the only other species of the genus in the region that lacks acrodromous venation. A revised key to the species of Rhodomyrtus in Australia is also presented.

Context Transdisciplinary research is important where information from multiple fields is required to develop ecologically and culturally appropriate environmental planning that protects local conservation and socio-cultural values. Objectives Here, we describe research to inform ecosystem restoration and conservation of Chumbrumba Swamp within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, Australia. Many such open wetlands in the region have been degraded through agriculture and pastoral production, but there has been little research into their status, history and conservation needs. Methods The recent to pre-European settlement history of the site was explored, along with spatial variation of vegetation communities at the site, and these data integrated with historical and ethnographical information on the site and its cultural values. Results The botanical and palaeoecological analyses showed that Chumbrumba Swamp comprises a unique and highly sensitive ecosystem mosaic with high biodiversity. An endangered ecosystem complex, 82 vascular plant species, several disjunct or endemic taxa, and species at new northern range limits were recorded within its 20 ha area. The site comprises a stable swamp site with fringing woodland and rainforest that has persisted for around 5000 years. European settlement overlaid changes in the vegetation from disturbance (e.g. fire, clearing, grazing). However, fire also affected the swamp site during pre-European times. Conclusions Historical and ethnographic information contextualised the biophysical data and confirmed the cultural importance of the site and the dynamic interactions between 'people and nature'. These results have been used to inform environmental restoration and validate the importance of a transdisciplinary and precautionary approach to planning wetland restoration and conservation.

The new species, Tecomanthe burungu Zich & A.J.Ford (Bignoniaceae) from the Wet Tropics bioregion of north-eastern Queensland is described, illustrated and differentiated from similar and closely related taxa.

Through interpretations of remote-sensing data and/or theoretical propositions, the idea that forest and savanna represent "alternative stable states" is gaining increasing acceptance. Filling an observational gap, we present detailed stratified floristic and structural analyses for forest and savanna stands located mostly within zones of transition (where both vegetation types occur in close proximity) in Africa, South America and Australia. Woody plant leaf area index variation was related to tree canopy cover in a similar way for both savanna and forest with substantial overlap between the two vegetation types. As total woody plant canopy cover increased, so did the relative contribution of middle and lower strata of woody vegetation. Herbaceous layer cover declined as woody cover increased. This pattern of understorey grasses and herbs progressively replaced by shrubs as the canopy closes over was found for both savanna and forests and on all continents. Thus, once subordinate woody canopy layers are taken into account, a less marked transition in woody plant cover across the savanna–forest-species discontinuum is observed compared to that inferred when trees of a basal diameter > 0.1 m are considered in isolation. This is especially the case for shrub-dominated savannas and in taller savannas approaching canopy closure. An increased contribution of forest species to the total subordinate cover is also observed as savanna stand canopy closure occurs. Despite similarities in canopy-cover characteristics, woody vegetation in Africa and Australia attained greater heights and stored a greater amount of above-ground biomass than in South America. Up to three times as much above-ground biomass is stored in forests compared to savannas under equivalent climatic conditions. Savanna–forest transition zones were also found to typically occur at higher precipitation regimes for South America than for Africa. Nevertheless, consistent across all three continents coexistence was found to be confined to a well-defined edaphic–climate envelope with soil and climate the key determinants of the relative location of forest and savanna stands. Moreover, when considered in conjunction with the appropriate water availability metrics, it emerges that soil exchangeable cations exert considerable control on woody canopy-cover extent as measured in our pan-continental (forest + savanna) data set. Taken together these observations do not lend support to the notion of alternate stable states mediated through fire feedbacks as the prime force shaping the distribution of the two dominant vegetation types of the tropical lands.

Forest and savanna are the two dominant vegetation types of the tropical regions with very few tree species common to both. At a broad scale, it has long been recognised that the distributions of these two biomes are principally governed by precipitation and its seasonality, but with soil physical and chemical properties also potentially important. For tree species drawn from a range of forest and savanna sites in tropical Far North Queensland, Australia, we compared leaf traits of photosynthetic capacity, structure and nutrient concentrations. Area-based photosynthetic capacity was higher for the savanna species with a steeper slope to the photosynthesis ↔ nitrogen (N) relationship compared with the forest group. Higher leaf mass per unit leaf area for the savanna trees derived from denser rather than thicker leaves and did not appear to restrict rates of light-saturated photosynthesis when expressed on either an area or mass basis. Median ratios of foliar N to phosphorus (P) were relatively high (>20) at all sites, but we found no evidence for a dominant P limitation of photosynthesis for either forest or savanna trees. A parsimonious mixed-effects model of area-based photosynthetic capacity retained vegetation type and both N and P as explanatory terms. Resulting model-fitted predictions suggested a good fit to the observed data (R2 = 0.82). The model's random component found variation in area-based photosynthetic response to be much greater among species (71% of response variance) than across sites (9%). These results suggest that, on a leaf-area basis, savanna trees of Far North Queensland, Australia, are capable of photosynthetically outperforming forest species at their common boundaries.

[1] (Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, 8 Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia ) 9 [2] (Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) 10 [3] (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Garmisch11 Partenkirchen, Germany) 12 [4] (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Centre for Tropical Environmental and 13 Sustainability Science, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia) 14 [5] (Australian Tropical Herbarium and Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, James Cook 15 Universtiy, Cairns, Queensland, Australia) 16 [6] (CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences Tropical Forest Research Centre, Atherton, Queensland, Australia) 17 [7] (Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, SL5 7PY, United 18 Kingdom) 19 [8] (School of Marine and Tropical Biology and Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability 20 Science, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia) 21 _________________________________________________________________________________ 22 [*] (Previously at: School of Geography, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom) 23 [**] (Previously at: School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, United Kingdom) 24 [***] (Previously at: School of Geography & Geosciences, University of Saint Andrews, KY16 25 9AL, United Kingdom) 26 27

We present repeated stem measurement data from 20 0.5-ha (100 × 50 m) permanent rain forest plots in northern Queensland, Australia from 1971 to 2013. The plots have a rainfall range of 1200 to 3500 mm, represent 11 vegetation types, six parent materials, and range from 15 to 1200 m above sea level. Except for minor disturbances associated with selective logging on two plots, the plots were established in old growth forest and all plots have thereafter been protected. Plots were regularly censused and at each census the diameter at breast height (DBH) of all stems ≥10 cm DBH were recorded. Data is presented for 10998 individual stems with plot stem densities at establishment ranging from 476 to 1104 stems/ha. Due to the wide geographical range of the plots, no species dominate, although the families Lauraceae, Rutaceae, and Myrtaceae contribute a large number of species. Basal area values at establishment ranged from 28.6 to 63.3 m²/ha and showed no trend of increasing or decreasing over time due mainly to regular disturbance and recovery from natural events such as cyclones. In addition to stems ≥10 cm DBH data, we present height data, floristic data from understory stems (≥50 cm height to <10 cm DBH), an auxiliary species list (including vines, epiphytes, ferns, grasses, herbs, and other life forms), and a list of voucher specimens lodged in herbaria. The data collected from the 20 plots provides an insight into the floristics, structure, and long-term forest dynamics of Australian tropical rain forests and allows direct comparisons to be made with long-term monitoring plots at a global scale.

Australian wet tropical rainforests are both floristically diverse and high in endemism, and their restricted distribution sees them particularly vulnerable to climate change and other anthropogenic influences. Historically, there were no large-scale studies of the dynamics and drivers of these systems in Australia. We established a 25-ha rainforest plot in the Wet Tropics bioregion of Australia to undertake intensive collection of floristic, structural and ecosystem measurements. An initial census of all stems >= 10 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) recorded 23,416 stems from 208 species in 128 genera and 53 families; Lauraceae, Rutaceae, Proteaceae and Elaeocarpaceae were dominant. Endemism was high with 80.3% of species of stems >= 10 cm dbh found on the plot endemic to Australia and 45.2% endemic to the Wet Tropics bioregion. We provide the first measured estimate of basal area (52.0 m(2) ha(-1)) and aboveground living biomass (418.5 Mg ha(-1)) for a large area of Australian rainforest. The data collected from the 25-ha plot provide a baseline description of floristics and stand structure that will facilitate and encourage long-term ecological research of forest dynamics and allow direct comparisons to be made with similar plots on a global scale.

The diversity of angiosperms in primitive families, which occur in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, is frequently cited as evidence of the ancient nature of the Australian rain forests, but appears to be based on flawed taxonomic assumptions. We point out the error of identifying species as being primitive rather than representing families with ancient origins, list the families from near-basal lineages using a current molecular phylogeny, and compare their diversity with other areas of rain forest in Australia, and with other tropical areas in the Pacific. Twenty-eight dicot families below the eudicot clade may be regarded as near-basal; 16 of these are present in rain forest habitat in the Wet Tropics. The diversity of near-basal families, and of the species and endemics within these families, is similar in New Caledonia, and the family diversity similar to Costa Rica. We suggest that these data are consistent with other evidence that rain forest has persisted on the Australian continent for a long time, and that the role of Australian rain forests in harbouring a significant near-basal component has been underestimated. We also suggest that ongoing management might be focussed at conserving the evolutionary history present in the near-basal lineages, especially in the face of changing climatic patterns.

This study investigates patterns of genetic connectivity among 11 co-distributed tropical rainforest tree species from the genus Elaeocarpus across a biogeographic barrier, the Black Mountain Corridor (BMC) in the Australian Wet Tropics (AWT). We analysed a combination of allelic and flanking region sequence data from microsatellite markers, and evaluated the relative influence of environmental preferences and functional traits on genetic diversity and gene flow. The results indicate that only in three species geographic structuring of haplotype distribution reflects a north vs. south of the BMC pattern. Environmental factors linked with altitude were recognized as affecting genetic trends, but the selective processes operating on upland species appear to be associated with competitiveness and regeneration opportunities on poor soil types rather than climate variables alone. In contrast to previous observations within southeastern Australian rainforests, genetic differentiation in the AWT appears to be associated with small-fruited rather than large-fruited species, highlighting how external factors can influence the dispersal dimension. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of considering functional and environmental factors when attempting generalizations on landscape-level patterns of genetic variation. Understanding how plant functional groups respond to environmental and climatic heterogeneity can help us predict responses to future change.

Melaleuca sylvana Craven & A.J. Ford is described from the Herberton-Ravenshoe area in northern Queensland. A key to the microphyllous species of Melaleuca in northern Queensland is provided. Introduction During field studies in northern Queensland by the first author in 2001, the second author drew attention to an unusual microphyllous Melaleuca that occurred in the Herberton region on the western edge of the Atherton Tableland. The population was visited and specimens collected for later study in the herbarium. In the field it was observed that the plants were superficially similar to M. monantha (Barlow) Craven but differed from that species in having, inter alia, a more typical tree-like habit and larger fruit. Melaleuca monantha typically occurs as densely crowned, multistemmed plants although some collectors have noted on specimen labels that the plants were trees (but without indicating whether they were multibranched or not). The Herberton plants we observed were sparsely crowned and single-stemmed. Subsequent comparison of the Herberton material with herbarium specimens of M. monantha established that they differed in a number of characters. The more distinctive of these are listed in Table 1. In view of these differences, which are consistent with, if not exceeding, differences accepted for species segregation in other Melaleuca complexes in the Flora of Australia account of the genus (Craven et al. in press), it is concluded that the Herberton specimens represent a previously unknown species of Melaleuca, described below as M. sylvana. Taxonomy Melaleuca sylvana Craven & A.J. Ford, sp. nov. A M. monantha (Barlow) Craven hypanthio longiore (2-2.2 mm longo), filamentis staminalibus longioribus (7-8.5 mm longis), stylo longiore (8-10 mm longo), et hypanthio in fructu longiore (4-4.25 mm longo) differt. Type: Australia: Queensland: Cook District: Powerline access road, W of Herberton, c. 1.85 km along road from the Herberton-Watsonville road, 6 December 2001, Craven & Ford 10430 (holotype BRI; isotypes A, ASU, B, BISH, CANB, E, G, L, MEL, NSW, P, US). Tree or shrub to 5 m tall, open-crowned. Bud scales absent. Branchlets glabrous, terete, excavated (i.e. impressed) adjacent to the leaf blade. Leaves decussate, imbricate, amplexicaul, peltate, ascending (blade is appressed proximally at the point of attachment to the branchlet but is ascending distally), distinctly dorsiventral, 1.5-3.7 mm long, 0.9-1.7 mm wide, 1.4-2.3 times as long as wide, sessile; leaf blade glabrescent, the indumentum Muelleria 20: 3–8 (2004)

Rhodamnia longisepala N. Snow & A. J. Ford is described from the Windsor Tableland region of northeastern Queensland, Australia. All known collections occur in the Chowchilla Logging Area of State Forest Reserve 144. Since only nine plants are known over an area of 1 km(2),the species is considered highly vulnerable. The new species is distinguished from others in Rhodamnia by the persistent and erect subulate sepal lobes of the fruit. The fruit droops at maturity, is covered by densely villous to hirsute hairs, and lacks a reddish stage en route to its purplish black mature color. Domatia are present on the abaxial leaf surface where the major lateral nerves join the midnerve near the petiole. Rhodamnia longisepala somewhat resembles R. rubescens in leaf morphology and pubescence, but the latter species is far more common and is distributed from southeastern Queensland to southeastern New South Wales.

The diversity of Australia's tropical rain forest flora is captured on this CD-ROM which provides a wide range of users with an easy-to-use tool for identifying 1800 trees and shrubs. The extensive dataset is accessed via an interactive identification system which allows the user to identify rain forest flora even when only part of the plant is available. The package includes imagery of flowers and fruits, and all species are illustrated by leaf X-rays. This combination of images and information on features of leaves, fruits, flowers, bark, seedlings, and family classification and geographic distribution is complemented by detailed computer-generated descriptions of each species.