Journal Article10.1111/J.1442-9993.2012.02379.X
Does long-term fire exclusion in an Australian tropical savanna result in a biome shift? A test using the reintroduction of fire
Kenneth A. Scott,Samantha A. Setterfield,Michael M. Douglas,Catherine L. Parr,Jon Schatz,Alan N. Andersen +5 more
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TL;DR: This paper examined changes in the structure and composition of a long-unburnt site within the northern Australian savannas following an extended period of active fire exclusion (>20 years), and the effect of the reintroducing fire through experimental fire regimes.
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Abstract: The structure of tropical savanna ecosystems is influenced by fire frequency and intensity. There is particular interest in the extent to which long-term fire exclusion can result in a shift from savanna to forest vegetation that is not easily reversed by the reintroduction of fire. This study examined changes in the structure and composition of a long-unburnt site within the northern Australian savannas following an extended period of active fire exclusion (>20 years), and the effect of the reintroducing fire through experimental fire regimes, including fires in the early and late dry season at a range of frequencies. After the long period of fire exclusion, the vegetation community was characterized by a well-developed midstorey and canopy layer, low grass cover, substantially higher densities of woody sprouts and saplings than frequently burnt savanna. The community composition included a high proportion of rainforest-affiliated species. Three years of experimental fires had no detectable effect on the overall composition of grass layer and woody plants but had an effect on woody vegetation structure. Continued fire exclusion further increased the density of woody stems, particularly in the midstorey (2.0–4.99 m), whereas moderate-intensity fires (>800 kW m−1) significantly reduced the density of midstorey stems. The reintroduction of higher moderate intensity fire events resulted in the vegetation in some compartments reverting to the open savanna structure typical of frequently burnt sites. Such rapid reversibility suggests that in general, the woody thickening resulting from long-term fire exclusion did not represent a biome shift to a non-savanna state. However, there was a small proportion of the site that could not sustain the fires applied to them because grass cover was very low and patchy and therefore appeared to have crossed an ecological threshold towards closed forest.
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Citations
An evaluation of contemporary savanna fire regimes in the Canastra National Park, Brazil: Outcomes of fire suppression policies.
Eugênia Kelly Luciano Batista,Jeremy Russell-Smith,Helena França,José Eugênio Côrtes Figueira +3 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that management planning in Canastra National Park needs to effectively address: i) managing conflicts between CNP managers and local communities; and ii) fire management practices in order to achieve more ecologically sustainable fire regimes.
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Delivering effective savanna fire management for defined biodiversity conservation outcomes: an Arnhem Land case study
TL;DR: In this article, the authors document changes in fire regime in the western Arnhem Land region of northern Australia associated with the implementation of active fire management since 2006 and show that over a 12-year period, the regional fire regime has transitioned from late dry season, wildfire-dominated to being characterised by a majority of fires occurring as small early dry season prescribed burns.
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Intraseasonal variability of greenhouse gas emission factors from biomass burning in the Brazilian Cerrado
Roland Vernooij,Marcos Giongo,Marco Assis Borges,Máximo Menezes Costa,Ana Carolina Sena Barradas,Guido R. van der Werf +5 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a sampling system mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to sample biomass burning smoke in the Estacao Ecologica Serra Geral do Tocantins in the Brazilian state of Bahia and found that the N 2 O EF for the open Cerrado was less than half the EF suggested by literature compilations for savannas.
Demographic legacies of fire history in an African savanna
TL;DR: The findings indicate that fire history imparts demographic legacies not only on vegetation structure, but also on current vegetation dynamics, as current treefall rates of certain tree species are exacerbated by a history of higher fire frequency.
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Mammals of Australia's tropical savannas: a conceptual model of assemblage structure and regulatory factors in the Kimberley region
Ian J. Radford,Chris R. Dickman,Antony N. Start,Carol Palmer,Karin Carnes,Corrin Everitt,Richard Fairman,Gordon Graham,Thalie Partridge,Allan Thomson +9 more
TL;DR: The cat-ecosystem productivity hypothesis raised here differs from the already-articulated cat-habitat structure hypothesis for mammal declines, and is suggested approaches for explicit testing of transition triggers for competing hypotheses.
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Alan N. Andersen,Garry D. Cook,Laurie K. Corbett,Michael M. Douglas,Robert W. Eager,Jeremy Russell-Smith,Samantha A. Setterfield,Richard J. Williams,John C. Z. Woinarski +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a synthesis of the effects of experimental fire regimes on biodiversity, with particular consideration of fire frequency and, more specifically, time-since-fire.
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