Spatial and Temporal Vegetation and Peat Depth Patterns in Alpine, Subalpine and Montane Peatlands of South‐Eastern Australia

Alpine, subalpine and montane peatlands provide important ecosystem services, including carbon storage, water regulation and habitat provision, and are threatened by a range of disturbance and degradation processes that impact these services. However, long‐term vegetation monitoring and comprehensive peat depth assessments remain rare for peatlands in the southern hemisphere, limiting our understanding of how these ecosystems are changing over time. Here, we present an assessment of peatland vegetation data from south‐eastern Australia, analysing temporal changes across 58 sites in seven regions between 2012 and 2025, alongside spatial patterns of peat depth across 27 sites. Analysis revealed strong spatial structuring, where the dominant drivers identified by redundancy analysis (RDA) were, time since grazed (RDA: F = 17.70; p = 0.001), minimum temperature variabilit y (RDA: F = 13.53; p = 0.001) and fire history (RDA: F = 10.98; p = 0.001). Variation partitioning showed the strong spatial structuring in peatland vegetation, with regional setting explaining the largest proportion of variation (10.5%), followed by climate (3.3%), survey (2.4%), and disturbance (1.4%). Temporal change was proportionally smaller (RDA: F = 4.52; p = 0.001) with linear mixed models revealing that directional trends in plant functional groups across regions and surveys were not universal. The most disturbed peatland region (Dargo‐Dinner Plain) had significantly shallower and flatter peat depths (generalised additive model: −40.80 cm, p < 0.001, EDF = 1) compared to all other regions, while substantial heterogeneity existed both within‐ and between sites. The pronounced site‐level variation indicates that vegetation composition and peat depth patterns were driven by site‐specific factors including elevation, climate (temperature and precipitation) and disturbance (fire and grazing) histories, and that even at the site level, these ecosystems are highly heterogeneous. For effective conservation outcomes, management strategies should consider site‐specific conditions where resources allow, rather than relying on broad‐scale classifications to inform interventions. Our findings underscore the importance of long‐term vegetation and peat depth monitoring in understanding climate responses, recovery trajectories and carbon storage in mountain peatlands.