ORIGINAL PAPER Recruitment bottlenecks in the rare Australian conifer Wollemia nobilis Heidi C. Zimmer • Tony D. Auld • John Benson • Patrick J. Baker Received: 10 September 2013 / Accepted: 19 November 2013 / Published online: 29 November 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract Seedling survival plays a critical role in maintaining a supply of potential recruits. We examined seedling recruitment, survival and growth in Wollemia nobilis, a rare, long-lived Australian conifer. Wollemia nobilis seedlings and juveniles were moni- tored for 16 years (1996–2011). While W. nobilis can recruit from seed and, unlike most conifers, persist through resprouting, seed-based recruitment was the primary focus of this study. Sixty-five per cent of new seedlings died within their first year and only 7 % persisted for the 16-year monitoring period. However, 44 % of established juvenile plants (of unknown age at the beginning of the study) persisted throughout the 16-year monitoring period. Growth of seedlings and juveniles was very slow; growth estimates for most individuals had 95 % confidence intervals that included zero. The recruitment strategy of W. nobilis may be to maintain a slow-growing juvenile bank—a strategy typical of other shade-tolerant rainforest trees, including other Araucariaceae. Seedling recruitment in W. nobilis may act together with resprouting to maintain the population. Keywords Araucariaceae Á Critically endangered Á Juvenile bank Á Rainforest Á Survival analysis Á Wollemi pine Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10531-013-0593-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. H. C. Zimmer (&) Á P. J. Baker Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne, Richmond, VIC 3121, Australia e-mail: hzimmer@student.unimelb.edu.au T. D. Auld Office of Environment and Heritage NSW, PO Box 1967, Hurstville, NSW 2220, Australia J. Benson Science and Conservation, Royal Botanic Gardens Trust, Mrs Macquarie’s Road, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia 123 Biodivers Conserv (2014) 23:203–215 DOI 10.1007/s10531-013-0593-2