Open Access

W. S. Semple, T. B. Koen

• Although eucalypt regeneration is an uncommon event in the highly modified rural environments of southeastern Australia, it still occurs on some roadsides and even in grazed paddocks. A number of observations suggest that under grazing, regeneration is more likely to occur in native pastures than in those dominated by exotics. The apparently adverse effect of exotic pastures was investigated by monitoring growth and survival of eucalypt seedlings — either planted or from sown seed — on the Central Western Slopes of NSW. Survival of seedlings arising from direct drilled seed of Eucalyptus albens and/or Eucalyptus melliodora in exotic pastures was generally low. However, survival was higher for seedlings emerging in spring (but not at other times) in an annual exotic pasture than for those emerging in spring in a perennial exotic (Phalaris) pasture. Experimental plantings of Eucalyptus melliodora seedlings adjacent to annual exotics v. a perennial native grass plant showed no significant difference in seedling growth between the two microsites though there was a trend towards enhanced survival near the perennial grass. Within the context of other work on the regeneration of woodland eucalypts, these results suggest that: (1) competition from annual exotics is a major limitation to the survival of eucalypt seedlings in their first year; (2) competition from a perennial exotic establishing at the same time as the eucalypt seedlings is particularly severe during the eucalypt's second year. In the absence of a major disturbance such as scalping of topsoil, regeneration of eucalypts in exotic pastures is unlikely.