Quantifying successional changes in response to forest disturbances

Abstract

Question: Can dissimilarity measures of individual plots be used to forecast the driving factors among various anthropogenic disturbances influencing understorey successional changes? Location: Yambulla State Forest, south-eastern Australia (37° 14′ S, 149° 38′ E). Methods: Assessments of understorey vegetation communities were taken prior to anthropogenic disturbances and at three subsequent time periods representing a period of 15 years post-disturbance. Dissimilarities were calculated from the original assessment and modelled in a Bayesian framework to examine the influence of logging, number of prescribed burns and time. Results: All sites underwent significant changes over time independ..