In recent years, novel, high-severity wildfire regimes have driven major changes in the structure and function of forests globally. Indeed, many forests are vulnerable to recruitment failures and collapse in the event of decreased intervals between fires, including forests dominated by the Australian obligate seeders, Alpine Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) and Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans). Disturbance responses in these forests are often described collectively, with limited understanding of their potential differences. Despite this, management recommendations and ecological implications are often applied broadly across both forest types. Here, using an empirical dataset collected over an eleven-year period (2009–2020), we compare plant communities in south-eastern Australian Alpine Ash and Mountain Ash forests in mature stands (last burned in 1926/1939), and young stands (burned by high-severity wildfire in 2009). To do this, we used measures of forest structure (basal area of dominant plant life-forms) collected over eight years, and the abundance (projective foliage cover) of vascular plant species. We provide evidence of similar, positive-linear trends in the recovery of forest structure in both Alpine Ash and Mountain Ash forests in the first eight years post-wildfire in 2009. Mature Alpine Ash and Mountain Ash forests were compositionally different but had a similar structure and abundance of plant life-forms. Moreover, controlling for the influence of forest type, young stands were compositionally different from mature stands, and were associated with an increase in the abundance of Acacia, herb, ground-fern and graminoid species, and a decline in tree-fern and tree species. Further investigation in young stands revealed marked differences in plant community composition between forest types, with young Mountain Ash forests characterized by a lower abundance of shrub, Acacia and graminoid species, relative to Alpine Ash forests of the same age. Overall, our findings indicate that Alpine Ash and Mountain Ash forest plant communities may have similar structural and functional responses to predicted increases in wildfire. This suggests that when the broad structure and function of forest vegetation is a consideration, ecological implications and management recommendations may be broadly applicable to both Alpine Ash and Mountain Ash forests. However, further consideration is required in early successional stands where differences in species composition between forest types may have implications for management (e.g. increases in flammability). In a period of uncertainty in the future of ash-type forests, our study provides a timely insight into the comparative successional trajectories of their respective plant communities and provides a baseline for future studies.

近年来，新的、严重的野火制度推动了全球森林结构和功能的重大变化。事实上，许多森林在火灾间隔时间缩短的情况下很容易受到补充失败和倒塌的影响，包括由澳大利亚专性播种机、高山白蜡树( Eucalyptus delegatensis ) 和山白蜡树( Eucalyptus regnans ) 主导的森林）。这些森林中的干扰响应通常被集体描述，对其潜在差异的了解有限。尽管如此，管理建议和生态影响通常广泛应用于两种森林类型。在这里，我们使用在 11 年期间（2009-2020 年）收集的经验数据集，比较了澳大利亚东南部高山灰和山灰森林中成熟林分（最后一次烧毁在 1926/1939 年）和年轻林分（ 2009 年被高强度野火烧毁）。为此，我们使用了八年来收集的森林结构（优势植物生命形式的基础面积）和维管植物物种的丰度（投影叶面覆盖）的测量值。我们提供类似的证据，2009 年野火后前 8 年，高山白蜡和山灰森林的森林结构恢复呈正线性趋势。成熟的高山白蜡和山灰森林在成分上不同，但具有相似的结构和丰富的植物生命-形式。此外，控制森林类型的影响，年轻林分在组成上与成熟林分不同，并且与丰度的增加有关金合欢、草本植物、地蕨和禾本科物种，以及树蕨和树种的减少。对年轻林分的进一步调查揭示了森林类型之间植物群落组成的显着差异，年轻的山灰森林的特征是灌木、金合欢的丰度较低和禾本科物种，相对于同龄的高山白蜡林。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，高山灰和山灰森林植物群落可能对预测的野火增加具有相似的结构和功能响应。这表明，当考虑森林植被的广泛结构和功能时，生态影响和管理建议可能广泛适用于高山白蜡和山地白蜡林。然而，在早期演替林分中需要进一步考虑，其中森林类型之间的物种组成差异可能对管理产生影响（例如可燃性增加）。在灰烬林未来不确定的时期，