Alternative stable states in Australia's Wet Tropics: a theoretical framework for the field data and a field-case for the theory

作者：Warman Laura^*; Moles Angela T

来源：Landscape Ecology, 2009, 24(1): 1-13.

DOI：10.1007/s10980-008-9285-9

• Resilience
• Bistability
• Rainforest
• Sclerophyll
• Fire
• Positive feedbacks
• Management

The vegetation of the Wet Tropics bioregion of Far North Queensland is a complex system whose components (mainly tropical rainforests and fire-prone forests and woodlands) have mostly been studied independently from each other. We suggest that many characteristics of the vegetation are consistent with those of a complex, dynamic, spatially heterogeneous system which exhibits alternative stable states. We propose these states are driven and maintained by the interaction of vegetation-specific positive feedback loops with the regions' environmental parameters (such as topography, steep humidity gradients and seasonality) and result in the rainforest/fire-prone vegetation mosaic that characterises the area. Given the regions' magnitude, biodiversity and complexity, we propose the Wet Tropics as an important new example and a good testing ground for alternative stable state and resilience theories in large heterogeneous natural systems. At the same time, thinking in terms of alternative stable states and resilience creates a new context for understanding the regions' biological dynamics.

• 出版日期2009-1