Is fire a threatening process for Liopholis kintorei, a nationally listed threatened skink?

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danae Moore ◽  
Michael Ray Kearney ◽  
Rachel Paltridge ◽  
Steve McAlpin ◽  
Adam Stow
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Success ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Burrow System ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Primary Habitat ◽  
Experimental Burns

Context Prescribed burning is widely adopted as a conservation-management tool, with priorities largely being the protection of fire-sensitive plant communities, threatened fauna habitat and minimising the risk and impacts of broad-scale wildfire. However, an improved understanding of the ecological mechanisms that underpin species responses to fire will assist the development and refinement of prescribed-burning practice. Aims To examine the effect of fire on burrow-system occupancy and breeding success at different spatial and temporal scales for a threatened skink, Liopholis kintorei. Methods Experimental burns simulating different fire types (clean burn, patchy burn and no burn) were conducted at 30 L. kintorei burrow systems that were selected from within a 75-ha focal study area. Burrow-system occupancy was monitored daily for 1 month, then monthly for an additional 3 months. Breeding success was assessed once at all 30 burrow systems. Eight additional 1-km2 sites within L. kintorei habitat that had experienced some degree of fire 2 years earlier were selected from across Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary. Burrow-system occupancy and breeding success of L. kintorei at these sites was assessed once. Key results There was no significant effect of fire on burrow-system occupancy 1 month after experimental burns; however, burrow-system occupancy was significantly higher at unburnt sites 4 months after experimental burns and 2 years post-fire. Breeding success was significantly higher at unburnt sites than at clean-burnt and patchy-burnt sites. Conclusions Fire adversely affects L. kintorei, as demonstrated by a higher proportion of unoccupied burrow systems and fewer successful breeding events post-fire, particularly when all ground cover is lost. Implications Because fire is an inevitable and natural process within arid-zone spinifex grasslands, the primary habitat for L. kintorei, we recommend prescribed-burning practices that aim to maximise ground cover by reducing the frequency, intensity and size of fires. More specifically, we recommend fire exclusion from key sites within distinct localities where L. kintorei is known to be locally abundant. Depending on the size of these key sites, there may also be a need to construct strategic fire breaks within sites to ensure that any unwanted ignitions do not result in the loss of all vegetation cover.

scholarly journals Prescribed burning in a mediterranean-climate region mitigates the disturbance by bushfire to a critical food resource for an endangered bird, the Carnaby’s cockatoo

Fire Ecology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie S. Densmore ◽  
Emma S. Clingan
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Percentage Survival

Abstract Background Prescribed burning is used to reduce fire hazard in highly flammable vegetation types, including Banksia L.f. woodland that occurs on the Swan Coastal Plain (SCP), Western Australia, Australia. The 2016 census recorded well over 1.9 million people living on the SCP, which also encompasses Perth, the fourth largest city in Australia. Banksia woodland is prone to frequent ignitions that can cause extensive bushfires that consume canopy-stored banksia seeds, a critical food resource for an endangered bird, the Carnaby’s cockatoo (Calyptorynchus latirostris, Carnaby 1948). The time needed for banksias to reach maturity and maximum seed production is several years longer than the typical interval between prescribed burns. We compared prescribed burns to bushfires and unburned sites at three locations in banksia woodland to determine whether low-intensity prescribed burns affect the number of adult banksias and their seed production. Study sites were matched to the same vegetation complex, fire regime, and time-since-fire to isolate fire intensity as a variable. Results Headfire rates of spread and differenced normalized burn ratios indicated that prescribed burning was generally of a much lower intensity than bushfire. The percentage survival of adult banksias and their production of cones and follicles (seeds) did not decrease during the first three years following a prescribed burn. However, survival and seed production were significantly diminished followed high-intensity bushfire. Thus, carrying capacity for Carnaby’s cockatoo was unchanged by prescribed burning but decreased markedly following bushfire in banksia woodland. Conclusions These results suggest that prescribed burning is markedly different from bushfire when considering appropriate fire intervals to conserve canopy habitats in fire-resilient vegetation communities. Therefore, low-intensity prescribed burning represents a viable management tool to reduce the frequency and extent of bushfire impacts on banksia woodland and Carnaby’s cockatoo.

Fuel and fire characteristics in savanna - woodland of West Africa in relation to grazing and dominant grass type

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrice Savadogo ◽  
Didier Zida ◽  
Louis Sawadogo ◽  
Daniel Tiveau ◽  
Mulualem Tigabu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Savanna Woodland ◽  
Vegetation Height ◽  
Average Maximum ◽  
Dominant Grass

Fuel characteristics, fire behaviour and temperature were studied in relation to grazing, dominant grass type and wind direction in West African savanna–woodland by lighting 32 prescribed early fires. Grazing significantly reduced the vegetation height, total fuel load, and dead and live fuel fractions whereas plots dominated by perennial grasses had higher values for vegetation height, total fuel load and the quantity of live fuel load. Although fire intensity remained insensitive (P > 0.05) to any of these factors, fuel consumption was significantly (P = 0.021) reduced by grazing, rate of spread was faster in head fire (P = 0.012), and flame length was shorter in head fire than back fire (P = 0.044). The average maximum temperature was higher (P < 0.05) on non-grazed plots, on plots dominated by annual grasses, on plots subjected to head fire, and at the soil surface. Lethal temperature residence time showed a nearly similar trend to fire temperature. Wind speed and total fuel load were best predictors of fire behaviour parameters (R2 ranging from 0.557 to 0.862). It can be concluded that grazing could be used as a management tool to modify fire behaviour, back fire should be carried out during prescribed burning to lower fire severity, and the fire behaviour models can be employed to guide prescribed early fire in the study area.

Influence of prescribed burning on fruit production in Proteaceae

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Penman ◽  
S. H. Penman
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Long Term Study

Prescribed burning is applied worldwide as a forest management tool. It is broadly accepted that altered fire regimes can directly impact upon community structure and composition, but little is known about the indirect effects of altered fire regimes on the mechanisms that produce community-level changes such as changes to the reproductive output of individual plants, hence populations. We examined the reproductive output of four species of Proteaceae within a long term study site where disturbance histories for the last twenty years have been accurately recorded on 216 plots. Frequent fire was found to increase woody fruit production in Banksia marginata, but had no apparent effect on B. serrata, Hakea eriantha or H. sericea. Results of this study vary from a similar study which examined the effect of wildfires. The differences observed are likely to reflect the differing impacts of fire intensity on these species. Indirect changes in fruit production may result in changes in reproductive success of species which in turn may affect vegetation community structure and faunal habitat.

scholarly journals Estimating Fuel Consumption for the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott L. Goodrick ◽  
Dan Shea ◽  
John Blake
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Continued Use

Abstract Recent changes in air quality regulations present a potential obstacle to continued use of prescribed fire as a land management tool. Lowering of the acceptable daily concentration of particulate matter from 65 to 35 μg/m3 will bring much closer scrutiny of prescribed burning practices from the air quality community. To work within this narrow window, land managers need simple tools to allow them to estimate their potential emissions and examine trade-offs between continued use of prescribed fire and other means of fuels management. A critical part of the emissions estimation process is determining the amount of fuel consumed during the burn. This study combines results from a number of studies along the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina to arrive at a simple means of estimating total fuel consumption on prescribed fires. The result is a simple linear relationship that determines the total fuel consumed as a function of the product of the preburn fuel load and the burning index of the National Fire Danger Rating System.

scholarly journals Prescribed Burning as A Management Tool to Destroy Dry Seeds of Invasive Conifers in Heathland in Denmark

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Christian Andreasen ◽  
Kasper Rossing ◽  
Christian Ritz
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Germination Rate ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Temperature Records ◽  
Conifer Trees ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Constraints

Non-indigenous conifers are considered invasive to the coastal dune heathland in Denmark, and massive clearing is carried out in an attempt to recreate and keep the original heathland. Burning is a common method for managing, but its feasibility to control the seed bank of conifers has not been investigated. This project shows that the burning of logged conifer trees will often eliminate seeds of lodgepole pine, mugo pine and Sitka spruce, even when the seeds were placed into a depth of five centimeters in the soil. The effect on seeds depends on the fuel load and the fire conditions (e.g., dryness, wind, and temperature). If the seeds were exposed to a high temperature, the seeds were not able to germinate afterward. The temperature was about 80 °C for all species. If the sum of temperatures based on temperature records every 30 s exceeded between 12,000 and 14,000 °C no seeds were able to germinate. The relationship between the mean temperature of the burns and the germination rate at seeds placed in various soil depths was modelled. Findings should be interpreted cautiously as each depth-species combinations were not replicated in space or time due to practical constraints.

scholarly journals The role of fire in UK peatland and moorland management: the need for informed, unbiased debate

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1696) ◽  
pp. 20150342 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Matt Davies ◽  
Nicholas Kettridge ◽  
Cathelijne R. Stoof ◽  
Alan Gray ◽  
Davide Ascoli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Response And Recovery ◽  
Benefits And Costs

Fire has been used for centuries to generate and manage some of the UK's cultural landscapes. Despite its complex role in the ecology of UK peatlands and moorlands, there has been a trend of simplifying the narrative around burning to present it as an only ecologically damaging practice. That fire modifies peatland characteristics at a range of scales is clearly understood. Whether these changes are perceived as positive or negative depends upon how trade-offs are made between ecosystem services and the spatial and temporal scales of concern. Here we explore the complex interactions and trade-offs in peatland fire management, evaluating the benefits and costs of managed fire as they are currently understood. We highlight the need for (i) distinguishing between the impacts of fires occurring with differing severity and frequency, and (ii) improved characterization of ecosystem health that incorporates the response and recovery of peatlands to fire. We also explore how recent research has been contextualized within both scientific publications and the wider media and how this can influence non-specialist perceptions. We emphasize the need for an informed, unbiased debate on fire as an ecological management tool that is separated from other aspects of moorland management and from political and economic opinions. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.

EcoFire: regional-scale prescribed burning increases the annual carrying capacity of livestock on pastoral properties by reducing pasture loss from wildfire

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Skroblin ◽  
Sarah Legge ◽  
Terry Webb ◽  
Leigh P. Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
Nutritive Value ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
The Impact

Prescribed burning is an important management tool in the extensive pastoral lands in northern Australia. It can be used to influence grazing patterns, increase the nutritive value of pastures, reduce the density of woody shrubs and reduce the risk of damaging wildfires. The consequences of regional-scale prescribed burning on pasture availability and annual carrying capacities of pastoral properties in northern Australia were examined using EcoFire, a fire management program in the Kimberley Region of north-west Australia, as an example. Theoretical long-term carrying capacities of land systems, and fire scar imagery from years before (2004–06) and during EcoFire (2007–11) were used to model the impact of the program on the seasonality and extent of fire-induced losses in annual carrying capacity, and the likelihood of properties experiencing catastrophic losses in a given year. Over the 5 years that EcoFire has been running, it has resulted in a progressive reduction in the loss of annual carrying capacity caused by the burning of pasture, and shifted the season that annual carrying capacity is lost to fire from predominantly the late to the early dry season. Most notably, the established program has reduced the probability of experiencing catastrophic loss (defined here as >50% of annual carrying capacity removed due to fire) from 18 incidences to three incidences within a 3-year period. These outcomes have the potential to deliver economic benefits to pastoralists via increased annual carrying capacity and by improvements in pasture condition, provided stocking rates and pasture utilisation are managed carefully.

Spring fire effects on two Aristida/Bothriochloa native pastures in central Queensland, Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 485
Author(s):  
R. G. Silcock ◽  
T. J. Hall ◽  
P. Jones ◽  
P. G. Filet ◽  
J. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Marked Change ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Heteropogon Contortus ◽  
Eucalypt Woodlands ◽  
Native Pastures ◽  
The Many

Controlled burns are commonly used to suppress woody plant regrowth and to remove accumulated unpalatable pasture from rangelands and occasionally to alter pasture composition in native pastures in central Queensland, Australia. Outcomes can be somewhat unpredictable and short-term, and reliable evidence is needed to confirm the likely long-term efficacy of such fires. We imposed a regime of repeated spring burns on native Aristida/Bothriochloa pastures growing in two contrasting eucalypt woodlands of central Queensland to determine the effects on pasture composition, ground cover, landscape stability and woody plant recruitment, all in the absence of grazing. The sites selected were a silver-leaved ironbark (Eucalyptus melanophloia F.Muell.) woodland and a poplar box (E. populnea F.Muell.) woodland. Weather conditions precluded spring burns in 3 years out of 7 at the silver-leaved ironbark site and in 2 years out of 8 at the poplar box site. The burn intensity was variable, and frequent fires produced a marked change in abundance of only a few pasture species. Depending on the site, fires significantly increased the frequency of Enneapogon spp., Bothriochloa bladhii (Retz.) S.T.Blake and Dichanthium sericeum (R.Br.) A.Camus and reduced the frequency of some minor components such as Cymbopogon spp., Panicum effusum R.Br., Cenchrus ciliaris L. and, ephemerally, that of some forbs. Contrary to expectation, only Aristida calycina R.Br. declined in abundance among the many Aristida species present, and the abundance of Heteropogon contortus (L.) P.Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult. barely increased under regular spring fires. The total germinable seeds of herbaceous species in the soil each spring was significantly reduced by burning in the previous spring. Repeated spring fires rarely reinforced any initial change induced by burning, and slightly lowered average ground cover as well as various indices of landscape stability and ecosystem functionality. Changes produced were not always consistent across the two communities. Though prescribed burning is often important for maintaining grazing productivity and landscape values, very regular use is not recommended.

Environmental flow requirements in arid zone rivers – a case study from the Lake Eyre Basin, central Australia

2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.F. Costelloe ◽  
J.T. Puckridge ◽  
J.R.W. Reid ◽  
J. Pritchard ◽  
P. Hudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arid Zone ◽  
Environmental Flow ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Biological Responses ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Real Flow

The ARIDFLO project takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the collection and analysis of data required to formulate appropriate environmental flow requirements for rivers in the Lake Eyre Basin. The key drivers of the ecological processes underpinning the health of these rivers are identified by modelling whole-of-ecosystem biological responses to hydrological events over a range of spatial and temporal scales. First, the hydrology of these poorly gauged (often ungauged) rivers needs to be modelled and validated to mimic real flow and inundation patterns at the catchment, reach and waterbody scale. Modelled and actual discharge data are then used to provide a suite of hydrological predictor variables which, in conjunction with other environmental variables, are used to model observed biotic responses. The key hydrologic and environmental drivers identified by the statistical models need to be taken into account when determining environmental flow requirements for these river systems. Further work is required to assess the predictive power of the models in the highly variable, complex systems of the Lake Eyre Basin rivers.

scholarly journals Comparison of Hyperspectral Versus Traditional Field Measurements of Fractional Ground Cover in the Australian Arid Zone

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 2825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Fisk ◽  
Kenneth Clarke ◽  
Megan Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scale ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Bare Soil ◽  
Point Sampling ◽  
Calibration And Validation ◽  
Fractional Cover ◽  
In Situ Methods

The collection of high-quality field measurements of ground cover is critical for calibration and validation of fractional ground cover maps derived from satellite imagery. Field-based hyperspectral ground cover sampling is a potential alternative to traditional in situ techniques. This study aimed to develop an effective sampling design for spectral ground cover surveys in order to estimate fractional ground cover in the Australian arid zone. To meet this aim, we addressed two key objectives: (1) Determining how spectral surveys and traditional step-point sampling compare when conducted at the same spatial scale and (2) comparing these two methods to current Australian satellite-derived fractional cover products. Across seven arid, sparsely vegetated survey sites, six 500-m transects were established. Ground cover reflectance was recorded taking continuous hyperspectral readings along each transect while step-point surveys were conducted along the same transects. Both measures of ground cover were converted into proportions of photosynthetic vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation, and bare soil for each site. Comparisons were made of the proportions of photosynthetic vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation, and bare soil derived from both in situ methods as well as MODIS and Landsat fractional cover products. We found strong correlations between fractional cover derived from hyperspectral and step-point sampling conducted at the same spatial scale at our survey sites. Comparison of the in situ measurements and image-derived fractional cover products showed that overall, the Landsat product was strongly related to both in situ methods for non-photosynthetic vegetation and bare soil whereas the MODIS product was strongly correlated with both in situ methods for photosynthetic vegetation. This study demonstrates the potential of the spectral transect method, both in its ability to produce results comparable to the traditional transect measures, but also in its improved objectivity and relative logistic ease. Future efforts should be made to include spectral ground cover sampling as part of Australia’s plan to produce calibration and validation datasets for remotely sensed products.

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