Coarse woody debris (CWD) is a key structural element of forest ecosystems. While it is therefore important to be able to measure and monitor it, there is no established protocol to do this efficiently and effectively. This study aimed to quantify a range of attributes of CWD in Tasmanian tall wet Eucalyptus obliqua forest (TWEF) and to use the findings to draw recommendations for future survey and monitoring approaches. The assessment took place at five 50×50 m long-term ‘wildfire chronosequence’ sites, all located on south-facing aspects in the Warra region and representing different successional stages following natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The following CWD attributes were measured and/or calculated: CWD type, diameter (>10 cm), length (>1 m), volume, decay class diversity, bryophyte/litter cover, and regeneration abundance. The site representing 40 year old silvicultural regeneration following clearfelling contained the highest volume of CWD (1085 m³ ha^-1). Volumes in the wildfire-regenerated sites (representing 40, 70 and 110 years post-stand-replacing wildfire) were 588, 592 and 376 m³ ha^-1 respectively, while the oldest stand (‘old-growth’: time since fire uncertain) contained 1007 m³ ha^-1. Large logs (>40 cm diameter) generally contributed about 80% of the total CWD volume. There was a trend towards a greater preponderance of logs in more advanced stages of decay with time since disturbance. The regeneration of ferns and trees on CWD was positively correlated with its diameter. No correlations could be detected between decay class diversity and volume at the scale of logs or subplots. At the scale of 10×10 m, the arrangement of coarse woody debris was clumped in all plots, whereas at the scale of 20×20 m, it became more evenly distributed in the old growth site. The detected patterns of CWD attributes were then used to recommend different sampling methods for different of measurement purposes. Based on subplot (=0.01 ha) level analyses, it appeared that 50×50 m was an adequate area for capturing the local range of CWD volume and decay class diversity. In this study it was demonstrated that the variation of CWD attributes at different spatial scales could be used to design monitoring of CWD more efficiently.

Logs and branches were divided into segments when a change in decay class occurred or when a log crossed subplot-boundaries. Log segments of the same decay class were further sub-divided into subsegments if they crossed subplot-boundaries. All measurements of CWD attributes took place on the basis of a (sub) segment. This level of accuracy was needed for calculations of volume and other variables at the scale of subplots and decay classes.

Regeneration was recorded as the presence of different species on logs and on branches. Angiosperm species were divided into two groups. One was made up by species that can be typically found in the understorey of (mixed-) sclerophyll forests (“sclerophyll species”): Acacia spp., Anopterus glandulosus, Clematis aristata, Cyathodes glauca, Monotoca glauca, Nematolepis squamea, Olearia argophylla, Pimelia glauca, Pomaderris apetala and Tasmannia lanceolata. The other group contained species that are most common in the later successional stages of (mixed-) rainforest (“rainforest species”): Nothofagus cunninghamii, Atherosperma moschatum, Eucryphia lucida and Phyllocladus aspleniifolius. Fern species were not considered in this grouping, as some of them can be found during several successional stages in TWEF, and it was not possible to classify these into certain stages of forest succession. For stags, only height was measured because diameter at breast height was recently determined in another study by Scanlan (2007).