Responses to waterlogging and frost related to the topographic sequences of eucalypt species at three sites in central Tasmania

The boundaries between the eucalypt species typical of flats and hollows and those typical of slopes have been commonly attributed to variable waterlogging and/or frost resistance. Seedlings from three pairs of eucalypt species from the flats and slopes at three altitudes in central Tasmania (Eucalyptus ovata, E. rubida, 500 m; E. rodwayi, E. pauciflora, 800 m; E. gunnii, E. coccifera, 1000 m) were grown in a glasshouse experiment to test the interactive effects of species, waterlogging and fertiliser application on growth, frost resistance and frost recovery. The flats species largely proved more resistant to waterlogging, especially when fertilised, and less resistant to frost than the slopes species. Thus, it seems likely that the boundaries between the pairs of species are caused by relative frost resistance not waterlogging resistance.