Abstract
The impact of fire on the resilience of tree and shrub species populations, and the relationships between distance from the unburnt forest margin and composition, were examined from data collected 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, and 15 years after a fire at Mount Thomas Forest in 1980. Although some scorched mountain beech trees flushed, virtually all trees died within five years. The few surviving mountain beech seedlings mostly occurred within 20 m of the forest margin and were less common on a north‐facing transect than a south‐facing transect. Other woody species (e.g., of Coprosma and Pseudopanax ) commonly sprouted from burnt stumps. Increased density over time of saplings and seedlings >15 cm tall was primarily the result of onward growth of fire survivors, rather than post‐fire establishment. Between 1981 and 1995, some of the earliest colonisers disappeared and a few herbaceous species gradually increased to become dominant. Current dominance by the exotic Agrostis capillaris appears a consequence of recent changes in nearby tussock grasslands and strongly limits beech seedling establishment. Partial canonical correspondence analysis showed that time and distance alone explained significant components of the compositional variation. Because little variation was explained by the interplay between time and distance, there was no evidence for mountain beech forest recovery as ongoing marginal spread within 15 years of the fire.