One of the most complex and contentious issues in Australian ecology concerns the environmental impact of Aboriginal landscape burning. This issue is not only important for the development of a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and evolution of the Australian biota, but is central to the formulation of appropriate strategies for the conservation of the nation's biodiversity. Ethnographic evidence leaves little doubt that Aboriginal burning played a central role in the maintenance of the landscapes subsequently colonized by Europeans. Both 19th century European colonists and anthropologists in the 20th century documented the indispensability of fire as a tool in traditional Aboriginal economies, which have aptly been described as ‘fire-stick farming’. Aborigines used fire to achieve short-term outcomes such as providing favourable habitats for herbivores or increasing the local abundance of food plants, but it is not clear whether or not Aborigines had a predictive ecological knowledge of the long-term consequences of their use of fire. A large body of ecological evidence suggests that Aboriginal burning resulted in substantial changes in the geographic range and demographic structure of many vegetation types. Aboriginal burning was important in creating habitat mosaics that favoured the abundance of some mammal species and in the maintenance of infrequently burnt habitats upon which the survival of specialized fauna depends. Aboriginal fire regimes were probably critical for the maintenance of at least one species of tree (Callitris intratropica) in the monsoon tropics.

The question of the original impact of humans on the Australian environment is fundamentally speculative because of vague, disputed time frames proposed for the waves of colonization and shifting settlement patterns of Aborigines in the late Quaternary period. There is an inherent circular argument concerning the cause and effect of climate change, vegetation change, and burning through the late Quaternary. Charcoal and pollen evidence from long sedimentary cores is ambiguous and cannot be used to demonstrate unequivocally the initial impact of Aboriginal people on the landscapes of Pleistocene Australia. The sparse available evidence does not support the hypotheses that Aboriginal burning was primarily responsible for the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna; was critical for the maintenance of habitats of small mammals that have become extinct following European colonization; initiated widespread accelerated soil erosion rates in either the Pleistocene or Holocene; or forced the evolutionary diversification of the Australian biota. Burning may have caused the extinction of some fire-sensitive species of plants and animals dependent upon infrequently burnt habitats, and it must have maintained structurally open vegetation such as grasslands and also extended the range of fire-adapted species, such as Eucalyptus, into environments climatically suitable for rain forest. Palaeoecological research concerning prior impacts of Aborigines must give way to focused studies of the role of different anthropogenic fire regimes in contemporary ecosystems that have not been destroyed by European colonization. Such research is crucial for comprehending the role of Aboriginal burning in the maintenance of Australia's unique, rich biodiversity.

The impact of Aboriginal landscape burning on the Australian biota

The impact of fire on soil-dwelling biota: A review

Linking fire ecology and fire management in south-west Australian forest landscapes

Aim

The impact of fragmentation on a eucalypt forest was investigated by examining the effects of fragment size, time since fragmentation, degree of anthropogenic disturbance to fragment interiors, and time since fire, on native and exotic plant species richness per unit area.



Location

Two areas of dry open-forest were studied on the central coast of New South Wales in south-eastern Australia. Fifty forest fragments were located at Tomago, an area progressively fragmented over the last 60 years, most recently by clearing for sand-mining. Also at Tomago were six very large blocks of forest that were used as reference sites. The second area at Myall Lakes National Park (50 km north of Tomago) had four very large areas of intact forest that were also used as reference sites.



Methods

Fragments were allocated into (1) three size classes: small ( 100 ha). Mean plant species richness per 25 m2 area was determined for each fragment and analysed separately for native and exotic species.



Results

The most significant effects observed resulted from anthropogenic disturbance. In fragments with major disturbance, native species richness per unit area was significantly reduced in small-sized young and medium-sized old fragments. A significant increase was also observed for exotic species richness in fragments with major disturbance. With minor disturbance, native species richness in small fragments declined significantly with time since fragmentation, in contrast to medium and large fragments. Among recently created fragments, those recently burned had significantly more native species per unit area than those burned 10 or more years ago.



Main conclusions

Anthropogenic disturbance coupled with fragmentation had a stronger and more immediate effect in reducing native species richness and increasing exotic species richness than did fragmentation alone. In the absence of major disturbance, small fragments had fewer native species than larger size classes, but only after 10 or more years since fragmentation, confirming the importance of controlling for age of fragments when examining species–area relationships. This study has not tested whether differences in area were the direct cause of this loss of species over time; other factors that are correlated with area (such as edge effects) may also be involved. The increase in native species richness following fire was consistent with other studies of fire in unfragmented eucalypt forest. This study thus shows that in addition to the factors emphasized in classical island biogeography models, fragment age, disturbance and fire history are important in explaining species richness in fragmented eucalypt forests.

Changes to plant species richness in forest fragments: fragment age, disturbance and fire history may be as important as area

The 'fire stick farming model, which suggests that Aborigines changed the frequency and nature of fires in order to manipulate animal and plant resources, is now widely accepted in Australian phehistory. A re-examination of the biological evidence suggests that Aboriginal use of fire had little impact on the environment and that the patterns of distribution of plants and animals which obtained 200 years ago would have been essentially the same whether or not Aborigines had previously been living here. It is further suggested that 'fire stick farming’, had it been attempted, would in fact have been counter productive economically because of the adverse effects it would have had upon small species of animals. Aborigines observed and made use of an existing natural fire regime in Australia, they did not attempt to develop a new one.

The Burning Question: Aborigines, Fire and Australian Ecosystems*

Sixteen 1-ha study plots covering five regeneration stages were simultaneously trapped five times over a 20-month period to provide data on small mammal response to vegetation changes following fire. Areas regenerating after fires from 9 years to 1 month before the investigation were sampled in a uniform open forest on a coastal sand plain. Two types of understorey were recognized: one dominated by true forest shrubs with which Rattus fuscipes, Antechinus stuartii and Sminthopsis murina were associated, and another dominated by heath elements where the addition of Pseudomys novaehollandiae and Mus musculus produced a significantly more diverse small mammal community. The two communities exhibited different responses to post-fire vegetation changes.



Rattus fuscipes was the most abundant species and showed a logistic growth in biomass. No resident populations were established in the first 3 years, but a rapid increase in biomass occurred from 3 to 5 years to plateau after 8 years. Regeneration age had the greatest effect on R. fuscipes biomass mediated through the amount of accumulated leaf litter with additional variation being attributed to several vegetation structure variables and plant species diversity.



A replacement sequence in time was observed for species reaching their maximum abundance (P. novaehollandiae and/or M. musculus S. murina A. stuartii R. fuscipes) and was interpreted as species occupying stages in the succession when their optimal habitat requirements were fulfilled. These results have important implications for the design of management policies using fire or fire regimes as tools for habitat maintenance or alteration. A mosaic of forest patches of adequate size covering the entire range of seral stages is necessary to meet the optimum requirements of all the above species.

Small mammal responses to pyric successional changes in eucalypt forest

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Small mammal responses to pyric successional changes in eucalypt forest