SuperSites

Daintree Rainforest SuperSite

TERN’s affiliate Daintree Rainforest SuperSite is comprised of two field sites. The primary site is at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory (DRO) at Cape Tribulation. It comprises a long-term monitoring site, canopy crane and extensive researcher and teaching infrastructure. Nearby is the Daintree Discovery Centre site at Cow Bay, an ecotourism interpretive centre featuring a canopy tower, flux tower, aerial walkway and scientific monitoring. The sites are located about 120 km north of Cairns, Queensland.

Site Infrastructure & Characteristics

Daintree Rainforest Observatory

Canopy crane
Weather station
1 ha core plot
Gauging station
Soil water content, soil water potential, soil temperature sensors
Logging dendrometer bands
Faunacams
Sap flow system
Groundwater logging bores (3)
Rainout shelter
Comprehensive herbarium and insect collections for identifications

Daintree Discovery Centre

Eddy covariance flux tower
Weather station
1 ha core plot
Phenocams (1 above canopy)
Soil water content, soil temperature sensors
Sap flow system

Daintree Rainforest Observatory

Vegetation type: Complex Mesophyll Vine Forest (CMVF) 20 – 35 m canopy
Elevation: 65 m
Rainfall: ~5143 mm/yr
Mean Temperature: 24.4°C
Soils: acidic, dystrophic, brown dermosol and colluvial gravels

Daintree Discovery Centre

Vegetation type: Complex Mesophyll Vine Forest (CMVF) 20 – 35 m canopy
Elevation: 86 m
Rainfall:~4425 mm/yr
Mean Temperature: 24.0 °C
Soils: acidic, dystrophic, brown dermosol

Site Research

Research using the Daintree Rainforest SuperSite aims to:

How are the biota (in particular locally endemic species) changing in form, frequency and distribution and what are the drivers of change?
Does the vegetation represent a stable structure (overstorey versus understory dynamics) or has climate change affected it?
Which taxa of organisms are the most sensitive to local climate change and how can these be assembled into an accurate biodiversity monitoring tool?
What are the fundamental vertical and lateral energy, carbon, water and nutrient stocks and flows in the tropical forests of north Queensland?
How are these stocks and flows responding to past management and climate change and how are they likely to respond in the future?
How important is the connectivity between these ecosystems for hydrology, faunal movement and as refugia under conditions of past and future climate change?

Featured Datasets

This dataset consists of measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer in lowland tropical rainforest at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory located near Cape Tribulation, Queensland, using eddy covariance techniques.

This dataset consists of measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer in lowland tropical rainforest at the Daintree Discovery Centre near Cow Bay in Far North Queensland, using eddy covariance techniques.