Robinson & Spencer: Coppice treatment of mallee eucalypt 
favour lateral growth such as sites with high light 
availability, limited soil nutrients and frequent fire 
(Noble 1982). Observation of the surrounding landscape 
suggests that the area has not been burnt for many years. 
The presence of burnt stem stumps and burnt dead stems 
along with the ring counts of the removed E. phylacis 
stems suggests that a fire may have burnt at least part of 
the mallee population 16 years previously. The main 
population is quite fragmented due to past road 
construction and is split into four distinct groups. The 
group in which the coppiced ramet exists was likely to 
have been exposed to the fire, but the other groups have 
the protection of a wide cleared gravel area between 
them and the shrub-covered slope below. The larger stem 
diameters of the 'protected' ramets (Scott 2003) also 
suggests that they are older and probably escaped being 
burnt or if they were burnt their stems were not killed. 
The thick bark on E. phylacis stems (Table 1) suggests that 
they could survive a fire of moderate intensity (Vines 
1968). The ring counts of the H. trifurcata shrubs also 
indicate that the 1985 fire burnt the slope directly below 
the mallee population. 
After a canopy killing fire, mature mallee plants re¬ 
sprout from a large lignotuber (Noble 1982, Gill 1997), 
and within Australia's mallee region, many eucalypts are 
maintained in a youthful form either through regular 
burning and/or edaphic factors (Beadle 1968, Noble 
1982). It has been suggested that fire can be managed for 
the benefit of some mallee communities and, for mallee 
communities in the arid region of southern Australia, 
Noble (1982) suggested a fire interval of about 10 years. 
In lieu of fire, however, mallee eucalypts will re-sprout 
successfully following removal of stems by cutting, both 
in the spring or the autumn (Noble 1982). Two years 
following coppice treatment, the E. phylacis ramet had 
attained a height of more than 2 m with 6 dominant 
stems. Noble (1982, 2001), however, also showed that 
autumn burning or coppice treatment two years in a row 
killed mallee eucalypts, but the same treatment in spring 
resulted in few tree deaths. 
In natural environments, it is generally accepted that 
high incidence and severity of cankers are associated 
with environmental stress (Old and Davison 2000) or 
alternatively low tree vigour, which is common in older, 
over-mature plants. Generally, vigorous healthy trees are 
more resistant to attack from both insect pests and fungal 
pathogens. In the case of the E. phylacis population, we 
hypothesised that the individual ramets are over-mature 
and that their vigour will be reinstated by promoting 
new, healthy growth either by burning or by stem 
removal by cutting which will promote coppice 
development. Future monitoring will determine whether 
the coppice will be resistant to infection and canker 
development, but after 2 years all stems are canker free. 
While tissue culture may secure the future of rare 
eucalypts, including E. phylacis (Bunn 2001) it will not 
save the individual ramets in the population at Meelup. 
The future of the present E. phylacis population depends 
on rejuvenating the health of the stand. It would appear 
that fire might be an appropriate tool, as has possibility 
been the case for the past six millennia, and intervals of 
10-15 years may keep the population physically viable 
and with sufficient vigour to resist fungal pathogens. 
However, because of the location of the site and the 
situation of the species it may not be practical or wise. 
For example, other factors such as the fire interval 
required for reproduction in other associated species in 
the habitat, and the proximity of the population to urban 
and other public areas also needs to be considered. The 
greatest threats to restricted species such as E. phylacis 
are catastrophic events or further disturbance that will 
lead to extinction (Rossetto et al. 1999). Burning the entire 
population in a single fire event may not, therefore, be 
desirable, and if burnt it may need to be protected from 
repeated fire for several years in order to ensure complete 
regeneration. But the fragmented nature of the 
population does provide a possibility of reducing the risk 
associated with burning the entire population. 
An alternative that we propose is a program of 
gradual coppice treatment to be initiated, where one or 
two ramets are coppiced in the spring every 1-3 years. A 
10-15 year program will result in the rejuvenation and 
ensure the future of the entire population. Because of the 
Critically Endangered and Declared Rare status of E. 
phylacis , only one ramet was selected for treatment, but it 
was the one considered as having the most advanced 
symptoms of infection and senescence. The result shows 
promise for the other ramets within the population. 
When the health and vigour of the entire population is 
restored, it is feasible that some of the major 
environmental threats to the species will be abated and 
future management of the population could be integrated 
into the overall management of the reserve, which may 
include fire. If managed successfully, E. phylacis will 
always be rare, but need not be endangered. 
Acknowledgements: We wish to thank B. Smith for technical assistance 
and J. Hall and J. Webb for their assistance with tree ring analysis, L. 
McCaw, V. English and K. Williams, G. Voigt and P. Scott for meaningful 
discussion and S. Hopper, I. Abbott, J. Patten and three anonymous 
referees who all gave valuable comment on an earlier draft. 
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