The potential of Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S.T. Blake to reinvade cleared areas was evaluated over a 13-yr period that included two wildfires and the introduction of biological control agents. The first wildfire occurred in 1998 and was followed by a mean of 591.5 recruited seedlings m−2. Recruits from that fire were cleared 7 yr later in July 2005 for a second experiment to evaluate seedling recruitment into cleared areas. Seed rain, seedling recruitment and mortality, and sapling growth rates were measured in four plots located around individual large reproductive trees. A second natural wildfire in 2007 burned through those plots, leading to increases in seed rain followed by a pulse in recruitment of 21.04 seedlings m−2, 96.5% fewer than after the 1998 fire. Recruits in half of the plots around each tree were then treated with regular applications of an insecticide to restrict herbivory by biological control agents, while herbivory was not restricted in the other half. There was no difference in seedling mortality between treatments 1,083 d post-fire (2007) with 96.6% seedling mortality in the unrestricted herbivory treatment and 89.4% mortality in the restricted herbivory treatment. Recruits subjected to the restricted herbivory treatment grew taller than those in the unrestricted herbivory treatment, 101.3 cm versus 37.4 cm. Many of the recruits were attacked by the biological control agents, which slowed their growth. Although solitary M. quinquenervia trees retain some capacity to reinvade areas under specific circumstances, there was a downward trend in their overall invasiveness at this site, with progressively smaller recruitment cohorts due to biological control agents. Land managers should prioritize removing large reproductive trees over treating recently recruited populations, which can be left for many years for the biological control agents to suppress before any additional treatment would be needed.

中文翻译：

---

两种野火和生物防治剂对季节性淹没湿地白千层种群动态的影响

的潜力白千层(Cav.) ST Blake 重新入侵清除区域的评估在 13 年期间进行，其中包括两次野火和生物控制剂的引入。第一次野火发生在 1998 年，随后平均招募了 591.5 株幼苗 m-2. 7 年后的 2005 年 7 月，火灾中的新兵被清除，以进行第二次实验，以评估在清除区域的幼苗补充。在位于个体大型生殖树周围的四个地块中测量了种子雨、幼苗补充和死亡率以及树苗生长率。2007 年的第二次自然野火烧毁了这些地块，导致种子雨增加，随后又增加了 21.04 株幼苗 m-2，比 1998 年火灾后减少 96.5%。然后，每棵树周围一半的地块中的新兵定期使用杀虫剂进行处理，以通过生物控制剂限制食草，而另一半则不限制食草。火灾后 1,083 天（2007 年）的幼苗死亡率没有差异，无限制食草处理的幼苗死亡率为 96.6%，限制食草处理的死亡率为 89.4%。受限制草食处理的新兵比不受限制草食处理的新兵长得更高，分别为 101.3 厘米和 37.4 厘米。许多新兵受到生物控制剂的攻击，减缓了他们的成长。虽然孤独M. quinquenervia树木在特定情况下保留了一些重新入侵区域的能力，但由于生物控制剂，它们在该地点的整体入侵性呈下降趋势，招募人群逐渐减少。土地管理者应优先考虑移除大型繁殖树而不是处理最近招募的人口，在需要任何额外处理之前，这些人口可能会被生物控制剂抑制多年。