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Tribute OAM David Hungerford Ashton, 6July 1927-22 November 2005 Dr David Ashton, was the authority on cult and arduous taskofmapping thevege- Australia’s majestic Mountain Ash, aptly tation and soils ofthe Big Ash forest in the named by Mueller, Eucalyptus regnans, Wallaby Creek catchment and initiated a and devoted his professional lifeto theelu- studyofregeneration in these long-unbumt cidation ofecological details ofplant com- stands - a tall order indeed. Little did munities. An artist, poet, pianist and com- young David realise that this was the poser, as well as ecologist, David Ashton beginning of his fifty-year solo investiga- valued the beauty as well as the science of tion of E. regnans and its forests. In the the living landscape. 1950s, despite weather-, wombat- and David’s school and university studies leech-induced tribulations, and the lack of shaped his decision to become a botanist. an ecologist-supervisor, David managed to Having studied agricultural botany and reveal many details ofthe Mountain Ash’s geology at Melbourne High School, he life-story, including its apparent ability to began an agricultural science course at the regenerate in a forest gap. In 1957 he was University ofMelbourne in 1946. During awarded a PhD for his thesis, ‘Studies on our conversations not long before he died, the autecology of Eucalyptus regnans he still remembered his first-year botany F.v.M.'. excursions to Frankston heath and forests Meanwhile, David thrice joined in the Dandenong Ranges and his pleasure Professor Turner's summer team to assess at being in thegroup led bytheecological- the vegetation in plots which Maisie ly-enthusiastic professor of botany, John Fawcett (later Mrs Carr) had established in Turner. David wasso impressed that plants grazed (unfenced) and un-grazed (fenced) had names and ecological reasons for areas on the Bogong High Plains in the growing where they did, that he switched mid-1940s. to science andmajored in botany and geol- Dr Ashton interested generations of ogy. He also remembered his introduction Melbourne University students in ecologi- to more distant forests during his third- cal processes in Victorian plant communi- year ecology excursion to east Gippsland ties. From 1960 he taught ecology to sci- in 1948. ence and forestry undergraduates, intro- The following year. Professor Turner ducing them to various plant communities handed David Ashton, newly BSc, an eco- during excursions. An annual week-long logical puzzle for his postgraduate excursion to such distant destinations as research project, thereby seeding, and per- Wilson's Promontory, Lake Mountain, a haps sealing, his fate as an ecologist. patch ofW'arm temperate rainforest near Mosaics of fire-generated, even-aged Mario in east Gippsland, the Snowy River stands ofMountain Ash did not seem to fit valley near Suggan Buggan, the Bennison the model of forest regeneration, which High Plains, Mt Eccles and Mt Cobbler, originated in the northern hemisphere allowed final-year undergraduates to where uneven-aged forests were perpetuat- undertake adetailedecological study. ed by continuous regeneration in forest From the early 1960s David Ashton also gaps. It was well-known that Mountain supervised postgraduate research projects Ash regenerated vigorously after fire; but on a wide range of plant communities, could it regenerate in forest gaps? Or was including messmate forests near Wallaby thedramatic episodic disturber, fire, essen- Creek and on Wilson’s Promontory, Lilly tialforitsregeneration? Pilly Acmena smithii on Wilson’s Venerable stands ofE. regnans(overtwo Promontory, Myrtle Beech Nothofagus centuries old) in Melbourne’s watercatch- cunninghamii on Mt Donna Buang, the , menton the Great DividingRangenorth of intriguing outlier of Bull Mallee the thirsty city had escaped the ferocious Eucalyptus behriana near Melton, 1939 fires. In 1949 David began the diffi- Brisbane Ranges plant communities. 174 The Victorian Naturalist . Tribute Westernport Bay mangroves Avicennia tion of adequate ecological explanations. marina Cypress Pine Callitrisglaucophyl- Had he transferred his ecological attention la, in, the Snowy Valley, Kanooka awayfromthe BigAshforestin the 1950s, Tristaniopsis laurina in east Gippsland he would not have noticed the subsequent warm temperate rainforests, Lake demise ofthe few saplings that had man- Mountain Snow Gum Eucalyptuspauciflo- aged to grow from seedlings in a forest rq and Bogong HighPlainsgrasslands. gap, and would not have been provoked to , He helped with the tabulation ofplant examine in more detail the biology and community information for Victoria’s first ecology ofE. regnans in order to explain conservation survey, which was undertak- properly the intimate intricacies ofits life. en by his postgraduate student, Judy In the 1990s he prepared three substantial Frankenberg, after submitting her MSc papers on his half-century’s scientific thesis on Wilson’s Promontory Lilly Pilly scrutiny of E. regnans, which were pub- in 1965. Frankenberg’s Nature lished in 1999and 2000. Conservation in Victoria (VNPA, 1971) In the 1980s, after several re-surveys of reveals the sometimes urgent need for the Maisie Carr’s plots. Dr Ashton supervised conservation ofmany ofthe plant commu- Dick (RJ) Williams’ doctoral investigation nities which Ashton had the ecological of vegetation dynamics on the Bogong foresight to have his postgraduate students High Plains. Over four decades after their investigate. 1939 (post-fire) regeneration, shrubs were David Ashton joined the FNCV in scnescing above carpets of grass rather October 1965 - two months after his first than shrub-seedlings, allowing Dick paper appeared in The Victorian Williams to confirm the cattlemen-con- Naturalist. It presents the results of his fronting irony Maisie Carr had earlier final-year ecology students' investigation reported - that heathland shrubs are even- of seed germination in the soils of nine tually replacedbygrasses. Victorian plant communities in 1964. He Awards and honours followed University continued to use The Victorian Naturalist retirement, beginning with the prestigious to report work undertaken by his ecology Medal of the Ecological Society of class. TheNovember 1967 issuecarriesthe Australia in 1990. Dr Ashton became a report ofanother soil seed study - ofger- Foundation Fellow ofthe Royal Society of minable seed in soils from long-unburnt Victoria in 1995. In 1999 he was doubly and 1939-regeneratcd snowgumwoodland honoured. Victoria’s Department of at Lake Mountain. Subsequent issues of Natural Resources and Environment estab- The Victorian Naturalist carry reports of lished the ‘David Ashton Biodiversity students’ investigations during the annual Award’ fordepartmental staffforscientific week-long ecology excursion in the late achievements which enhance the under- 1960s - ‘Ecological Studies of Tunnel standing, conservation or management of Cave, Mt. Eccles’ in volume 85 in 1968, Victoria’s biodiversity. Rangers at the and ‘Ecological Studies on the Bennison Kinglake National Park, which then High Plains’ in volume 90 in 1973. Other included the Big Ash forest, organised a papers discuss epiphytes on Myrtle Beech celebration for his researchjubilee, and a trees at Mt Donna Buang, gum-topped beautiful bronze commemorative plaque stringybarks in the Trentham district, a was unveiled at Wallaby Creek. Since this possibletri-hybrideucalyptand root fusion isstill part ofMelbourne’s watercatchment between E. regnans and E obliqua in the and therefore inaccessible to the public, the Cathedral Range area, and artificial plaque was erected near the Toorourrong hybrids ofEregnans. Dr Ashton also con- Reservoircarpark, insightofthetall forests tributed a paper on the history of the David Ashton knew so well. In 2000 he McCoy Society to a special McCoy issue received a Parks Victoria Kookaburra ofThe VictorianNaturalistin2001 Award for his contributions to Victoria’s Ashton’s Wallaby Creekand High Plains parks, in 2001 a medal of the Order of investigations reveal the crucial impor- Australia for services to plant science, and tance of long-term studies, with decades, in 2002 a University of Melbourne DSc not years, being required for the elucida- degreeforhispublishedwork. Vol. 123 (3) 2006 175 NaturalistNotes Thanks largely to the establishment of CSIRO, national parks and forestry, uni- national parks. Dr David Ashton is out- versities and schools; and by the ‘David lived by plant communities which he and Ashton Biodiversity Award’ to encourage his students investigated. He is also sur- theconservation ofVictoria’s biodiversity. vived by his published papers, which pro- vide foundations for wiseconservation and Linden Gillbank management decisions; by the ideas and HistoryandPhilosophyofScienceDepartment practices of his postgraduate students in TheUniversityofMelbourne The Victorian Twitchathon: racing for ornithological conservation On a warm weekend in November 2005 grassy woodlands, wet and dry sclerophyll the Seven Year Twitchers raced and won forests, freshwater wetland, coastal heath, Birds Australia’s Victorian Twitchathon. saltmarsh, mudflat and the open ocean. The following article is a diary of this The diversity of birds we saw reflected remarkable two-dayevent. thesediversehabitats. So what is the Twitchathon? The Twitchathon is a 24-hour race that Day One involves dozens of birdwatchers madly Over the years the Seven Year Twitchers rushing around the Australian bush have used a number of different routes attempting to see or hear (read twitch) as around Victoria. This year we chose to many bird species as possible. The aim of start our race at Goschen Bushland the Twitchathon is to raise money, through Reserve, a small isolated mallee reserve team sponsorship, for ornithological west of Lake Boga in northern Victoria. research and conservation. Goschen usually contains spring-flowering The name oftherace is basedon theterm Long-leaf Emu-bush Eremophila longifo- 6twitcher\ hard-core birdwatchers who lia, a small rough-barkedtree that acts as a chase rare birds. The rules state that each vital food source for some ofour rare and team must have at least two participants, nomadic honeyeaters. One bird in particu- with four being the norm. Our team had lar, the elusive, almost mythical. Black four members: Tim Dolby, Greg Oakley, Honeyeater loves the stuff. A member of John Harris and Fiona Parkin. An important aspect of winning the Twitch- athon is that teams must cover enormous dis- tances in a 24-hour peri- od. If you include the pre-race reconnaissance, by the end of the race we had travelled well over 1400 kilometres. The main reason forthis is that in order to see a wide variety of bird species you must also cover as many different habitat types as possible. During the race we visit- SpottedPardalotePardalotuspunctatus. ed Mallee, Box-Ironbark, PhotographbyJonathonThornton 176 The Victorian Naturalist