Fire regimes and vegetation sensitivity analysis: an example from Bradshaw Station, monsoonal northern Australia

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Yates ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Sensitive Species ◽  
Obligate Seeder ◽  
Return Interval ◽  
Noaa Avhrr

The fire-prone savannas of northern Australia comprise a matrix of mostly fire-resilient vegetation types, with embedded fire-sensitive species and communities particularly in rugged sandstone habitats. This paper addresses the assessment of fire-sensitivity at the landscape scale, drawing on detailed fire history and vegetation data assembled for one large property of 9100�km2, Bradshaw Station in the Top End of the Northern Territory, Australia. We describe (1) the contemporary fire regime for Bradshaw Station for a 10 year period; (2) the distribution and status of 'fire sensitive' vegetation; and (3) an assessment of fire-sensitivity at the landscape scale. Fire-sensitive species (FSS) were defined as obligate seeder species with minimum maturation periods of at least 3 years. The recent fire history for Bradshaw Station was derived from the interpretation of fine resolution Landsat MSS and Landsat TM imagery, supplemented with mapping from coarse resolution NOAA-AVHRR imagery where cloud had obstructed the use of Landsat images late in the fire season (typically October–November). Validation assessments of fire mapping accuracy were conducted in 1998 and 1999. On average 40% of Bradshaw burnt annually with about half of this, 22%, occurring after August (Late Dry Season LDS), and 65% of the property burnt 4 or more times, over the 10 year period; 89% of Bradshaw Station had a minimum fire return interval of less than 3 years in the study period. The derived fire seasonality, frequency and return interval data were assessed with respect to landscape units (landsystems). The largest landsystem, Pinkerton (51%, mostly sandstone) was burnt 41% on average, with about 70% burnt four times or more, over the 10 year period. Assessment of the fire-sensitivity of individual species was undertaken with reference to data assembled for 345 vegetation plots, herbarium records, and an aerial survey of the distribution of the long-lived obligate-seeder tree species Callitris intratropica. A unique list of 1310 plant species was attributed with regenerative characteristics (i.e. habit, perenniality, resprouting capability, time to seed maturation). The great majority of FSS species were restricted to rugged sandstone landforms. The approach has wider application for assessing landscape fire-sensitivity and associated landscape health in savanna landscapes in northern Australia, and elsewhere.

Fire Management of Rangelands in the Kimberley Low-Rainfall Zone: a Review.

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
AB Craig
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
General Management ◽  
Noaa Avhrr ◽  
Local Experience ◽  
Definition Of

This paper examines a range of environmental, research and practical issues affecting fire management of pastoral lands in the southern part of the Kimberley region in Western Australia. Although spinifex grasslands dominate most leases, smaller areas of more productive pastures are crucially important to many enterprises. There is a lack of local documentation of burning practices during traditional Aboriginal occupation; general features of the fire regime at that time can be suggested on the basis of information from other inland areas. Definition of current tire regimes is improving through interpretation of NOAA-AVHRR satellite imagery. Irregular extensive wildfires appear to dominate, although this should be confirmed by further accumulation, validation and analysis of fire history data. While these fires cause ma,jor difficulties. controlled burn~ng is a necessary part of station management. Although general management guidelines have been published. local research into tire-grazing effects has been very limited. For spinifex pastures, reconimendations are generally consistent with those applying elsewhere in northern Australia. They favour periodic burning of mature spinifex late in the year, before or shortly after the arrival of the first rains, with deferment of grazing. At that time. days of high fire danger may still be expected and prediction of fire behaviour is critical to burning decisions. Early dry-season burning is also required for creating protective tire breaks and to prepare for burning later in the year. Further development of tools for predicting fire behaviour, suited to the discontinuous fuels characteristic of the area, would be warranted. A range of questions concerning the timing and spatial pattern of burning, control of post-fire grazing, and the economics of fire management, should be addressed as resources permit. This can be done through a combination of opportunistic studies, modelling and documentation of local experience. The development of an expert system should be considered to assist in planning and conducting burning activities. Key words: Kimberley, fire regimes, fire management, pastoralism, spinifex

Ecological thresholds and the status of fire-sensitive vegetation in western Arnhem Land, northern Australia: implications for management

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Edwards ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Ecological Thresholds ◽  
Arnhem Land ◽  
The Status

The paper examines the application of the ecological thresholds concept to fire management issues concerning fire-sensitive vegetation types associated with the remote, biodiversity-rich, sandstone Arnhem Plateau, in western Arnhem Land, monsoonal northern Australia. In the absence of detailed assessments of fire regime impacts on component biota such as exist for adjoining Nitmiluk and World Heritage Kakadu National Parks, the paper builds on validated 16-year fire history and vegetation structural mapping products derived principally from Landsat-scale imagery, to apply critical ecological thresholds criteria as defined by fire regime parameters for assessing the status of fire-sensitive habitat and species elements. Assembled data indicate that the 24 000 km2 study region today experiences fire regimes characterised generally by high annual frequencies (mean = 36.6%) of large (>10 km2) fires that occur mostly in the late dry season under severe fire-weather conditions. Collectively, such conditions substantially exceed defined ecological thresholds for significant proportions of fire-sensitive indicator rain forest and heath vegetation types, and the long-lived obligate seeder conifer tree species, Callitris intratropica. Thresholds criteria are recognised as an effective tool for informing ecological fire management in a variety of geographic settings.

Contemporary fire regimes of northern Australia, 1997 - 2001: change since Aboriginal occupancy, challenges for sustainable management

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽  
Cameron Yates ◽  
Andrew Edwards ◽  
Grant E. Allan ◽  
Garry D. Cook ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Frequency Interval ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Noaa Avhrr ◽  
Fine Resolution

Considerable research has been undertaken over the past two decades to apply remote sensing to the study of fire regimes across the savannas of northern Australia. This work has focused on two spatial scales of imagery resolution: coarse-resolution NOAA-AVHRR imagery for savanna-wide assessments both of the daily distribution of fires ('hot spots'), and cumulative mapping of burnt areas ('fire-scars') over the annual cycle; and fine-resolution Landsat imagery for undertaking detailed assessments of regional fire regimes. Importantly, substantial effort has been given to the validation of fire mapping products at both scales of resolution. At the savanna-wide scale, fire mapping activities have established that: (1) contrary to recent perception, from a national perspective the great majority of burning in any one year typically occurs in the tropical savannas; (2) the distribution of burning across the savannas is very uneven, occurring mostly in sparsely settled, higher rainfall, northern coastal and subcoastal regions (north-west Kimberley, Top End of the Northern Territory, around the Gulf of Carpentaria) across a variety of major land uses (pastoral, conservation, indigenous); whereas (3) limited burning is undertaken in regions with productive soils supporting more intensive pastoral management, particularly in Queensland; and (4) on a seasonal basis, most burning occurs in the latter half of the dry season, typically as uncontrolled wildfire. Decadal fine-resolution fire histories have also been assembled from multi-scene Landsat imagery for a number of fire-prone large properties (e.g. Kakadu and Nitmiluk National Parks) and local regions (e.g. Sturt Plateau and Victoria River District, Northern Territory). These studies have facilitated more refined description of various fire regime parameters (fire extent, seasonality, frequency, interval, patchiness) and, as dealt with elsewhere in this special issue, associated ecological assessments. This paper focuses firstly on the patterning of contemporary fire regimes across the savanna landscapes of northern Australia, and then addresses the implications of these data for our understanding of changes in fire regime since Aboriginal occupancy, and implications of contemporary patterns on biodiversity and emerging greenhouse issues.

scholarly journals Effects of overstory structure and fire regime upon diversity and abundance of selected understory species in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forests in southeastern Georgia

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (No. 9) ◽  
pp. 395-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Keith Moser ◽  
Yu Chui Kwan
Keyword(s):  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Longleaf Pine ◽  
Pinus Palustris ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Percent Cover ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Fire Return Interval ◽  
Return Interval

We examined the impacts of variation in overstory structure and burning regime on understory vegetation in the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forest of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia, U.S.A. On sandy upland sites surrounding the Okefenokee Swamp and on islands, we established five randomly-located 0.04-ha plots within each of six study areas. The plots varied in overstory density, past management and fire regime. We measured overstory tree size of longleaf pines in the 0.04-ha plots and percent cover of ground cover species in five 1-m2 subplots nested within each 0.04-ha plot. We also calculated diversity indices for the ground cover species. There was no significant relationship between overstory basal area and any diversity measure. Even at the subplot level, there was no significant relationship observed between the diversity measures and distance to the nearest tree, presumably a surrogate for overstory density. The diameter (DBH) of the nearest tree exhibited a slight influence over the Shannon Index, and the nearest tree’s height was significantly related to evenness in each subplot. There were varied relationships between individual species and fire regime or nearest tree measurements. There was a definite, but statistically insignificant, trend of decreasing diversity with increasing years since the last burn. Height of the nearest tree positively influen­ced evenness, probably reflecting the influence of stochasticity and amount of needle deposition (influencing fire behavior) over a wide area. Within the generally equal fire-return interval across sites, individual fire-events and site-specific behavior apparently influence understory diversity. It is not surprising that the last burn would affect species richness, even more so than the number of growing-season burns, other studies support this observation. The presence of obligate seeding and (clonal) sprouting as dominants in the ground cover suggests that the fire-return interval is not regular. The cycling of fire-return intervals, even within the manage­ment-prescribed 2- to 4-year range, and the variation by microsite appear to provide sufficient variability of disturbance to create diversity in the ground-level cohort. Site-specific relationships between particular species and the nearest tree suggest that even a narrowly-prescribed fire management regime can provide sufficient diversity.

scholarly journals Widespread fire years in the US–Mexico Sky Islands are contingent on both winter and monsoon precipitation

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1072
Author(s):  
Alexis H. Arizpe ◽  
Donald A. Falk ◽  
Connie A. Woodhouse ◽  
Thomas W. Swetnam
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Winter Precipitation ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Monsoon Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Regime ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
The Us

The climate of the south-western United States and northern Mexico borderlands is marked by a bimodal precipitation regime with the majority of moisture arriving during the cool season via Pacific frontal storm systems, and intense convective storms during the North American Monsoon (NAM). The fire season occurs primarily during the arid foresummer in May and June, before the development of the NAM. Most tree-ring studies of fire climatology in the region have evaluated only the role of winter precipitation. We used tree-ring-width-based reconstructions of both winter and monsoon precipitation, coupled with fire scar reconstructions of fire history from mountain ranges in the US and Mexico, to quantify the historical role and interactions of both seasons of precipitation in modulating widespread fire years. Winter precipitation was the primary driver of widespread fire years in the region, but years with drought in both seasons had the highest fire frequency and most widespread fires. These relationships define a unique monsoon fire regime, in which the timing and amount of monsoon precipitation are important factors in limiting the length of fire season and regulating widespread fire years.

Analysis of fire frequency on the Talladega National Forest, USA, 1998-2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 919
Author(s):  
Jonathan Stober ◽  
Krista Merry ◽  
Pete Bettinger
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
National Forest ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Fire Return Interval ◽  
Return Interval ◽  
Forested Landscapes ◽  
Pinus Spp

Fire is an essential ecological process and management tool for many forested landscapes, particularly the pine (Pinus spp.) forests of the southern USA. Within the Talladega National Forest in Alabama, where restoration and maintenance of pine ecosystems is a priority, fire frequency (both wild and prescribed) was assessed using a geographical process applied to a fire history database. Two methods for assessing fire frequency were employed: (1) a simple method that utilised the entire range of years acknowledged in the database and (2) a conservative method that was applied only the date of the first and last fires recorded at each location. Analyses were further separated by (a) method of mean fire return interval calculation (weighted by area or Weibull) and (b) fire season interval with analyses conducted on growing season and dormant season fires. Analyses of fire frequency for national forest planning purposes may help determine whether a prescribed fire program mimics ecological and historical fire frequencies and meets intended objectives. The estimated fire return interval was between ~5 and 6.5 years using common, straightforward (simple) methods. About one-third of the forest receives no fire management and about half of the balance has sufficiently managed fuels.

Monitoring the impacts of fire regimes on vegetation in northern Australia: an example from Kakadu National Park

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Edwards ◽  
Rod Kennett ◽  
Owen Price ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽  
Greg Spiers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Life Form ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Ground Layer ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Trees And Shrubs

We describe the rationale, methodology and preliminary results from a major monitoring program in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. The program aims to assess fire regimes, their impacts upon biodiversity, and the consequences and efficacy of fire management. The program comprises two complementary elements—mapping of fire histories based upon interpretation of satellite imagery, and assessment of vegetation at a large series of permanent monitoring plots. The program commenced formally in 1995, at which time establishment and baseline sampling of vegetation in 134 plots was conducted, with re-sampling proposed at 5-year intervals up to 2010. The monitoring program has an estimated annual cost of about $A140�000 (around 1% of the total annual budget of the Park). Over the period 1995–2000, the mean annual extent of burning was 40.3%, a marginal reduction in extent from the previous 15 years, particularly for late dry season fires in lowland habitats. From the baseline (1995) and subsequent re-sampling (2000) of the vegetation plots, 963 plant taxa have been recorded. The power of the program to detect change in the frequency or abundance of individual species was poor, especially for ground-layer species, largely because of typically substantial variability in abundance across plots and sampling events, and because of the high proportion of species recorded from few samples. Notwithstanding this constraint, five tree species (of 47 recorded from sufficient samples to test), nine shrub species (from 121) and 27 ground-layer species (from 111) showed significant change in abundance between the baseline and subsequent sampling. However when species were grouped into strata and life-form categories, major changes were evident over this 5�year period, particularly with increases in cover of trees and shrubs. Such changes were related to a range of environmental and fire regime parameters of the plots, with increase in woody cover but reduction in cover and species richness of herbs in those plots experiencing lower frequency of fires.

Fire regime shift linked to increased forest density in a piñon–juniper savanna landscape

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellis Q. Margolis
Keyword(s):  
Regime Shift ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
In Fire

Piñon–juniper (PJ) fire regimes are generally characterised as infrequent high-severity. However, PJ ecosystems vary across a large geographic and bio-climatic range and little is known about one of the principal PJ functional types, PJ savannas. It is logical that (1) grass in PJ savannas could support frequent, low-severity fire and (2) exclusion of frequent fire could explain increased tree density in PJ savannas. To assess these hypotheses I used dendroecological methods to reconstruct fire history and forest structure in a PJ-dominated savanna. Evidence of high-severity fire was not observed. From 112 fire-scarred trees I reconstructed 87 fire years (1547–1899). Mean fire interval was 7.8 years for fires recorded at ≥2 sites. Tree establishment was negatively correlated with fire frequency (r=–0.74) and peak PJ establishment was synchronous with dry (unfavourable) conditions and a regime shift (decline) in fire frequency in the late 1800s. The collapse of the grass-fuelled, frequent, surface fire regime in this PJ savanna was likely the primary driver of current high tree density (mean=881treesha–1) that is >600% of the historical estimate. Variability in bio-climatic conditions likely drive variability in fire regimes across the wide range of PJ ecosystems.

Spatial and temporal variations of fire regimes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Foothills of southern Alberta

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Pierre Rogeau ◽  
Mike D. Flannigan ◽  
Brad C. Hawkes ◽  
Marc-André Parisien ◽  
Rick Arthur
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Fire Exclusion

Like many fire-adapted ecosystems, decades of fire exclusion policy in the Rocky Mountains and Foothills natural regions of southern Alberta, Canada are raising concern over the loss of ecological integrity. Departure from historical conditions is evaluated using median fire return intervals (MdFRI) based on fire history data from the Subalpine (SUB), Montane (MT) and Upper Foothills (UF) natural subregions. Fire severity, seasonality and cause are also documented. Pre-1948 MdFRI ranged between 65 and 85 years in SUB, between 26 and 35 years in MT and was 39 years in UF. The fire exclusion era resulted in a critical departure of 197–223% in MT (MdFRI = 84–104 years). The departure in UF was 170% (MdFRI = 104 years), while regions of continuous fuels in SUB were departed by 129% (MdFRI = 149 years). The most rugged region of SUB is within its historical range of variation with a departure of 42% (MdFRI = 121 years). More mixed-severity burning took place in MT and UF. SUB and MT are in a lightning shadow pointing to a predominance of anthropogenic burning. A summer fire season prevails in SUB, but occurs from spring to fall elsewhere. These findings will assist in developing fire and forest management policies and adaptive strategies in the future.

Fire history on a desert mountain range: Rincon Mountain Wilderness, Arizona, U.S.A.

1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 1559-1569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher H. Baisan ◽  
Thomas W. Swetnam
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Mixed Conifer ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mean Fire Interval

Modern fire records and fire-scarred remnant material collected from logs, snags, and stumps were used to reconstruct and analyze fire history in the mixed-conifer and pine forest above 2300 m within the Rincon Mountain Wilderness of Saguaro National Monument, Arizona, United States. Cross-dating of the remnant material allowed dating of fire events to the calendar year. Estimates of seasonal occurrence were compiled for larger fires. It was determined that the fire regime was dominated by large scale (> 200 ha), early-season (May–July) surface fires. The mean fire interval over the Mica Mountain study area for the period 1657–1893 was 6.1 years with a range of 1–13 years for larger fires. The mean fire interval for the mixed-conifer forest type (1748–1886) was 9.9 years with a range of 3–19 years. Thirty-five major fire years between 1700 and 1900 were compared with a tree-ring reconstruction of the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI). Mean July PDSI for 2 years prior to fires was higher (wetter) than average, while mean fire year PDSI was near average. This 490-year record of fire occurrence demonstrates the value of high-resolution (annual and seasonal) tree-ring analyses for documenting and interpreting temporal and spatial patterns of past fire regimes.

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