Prescribed burning as a conservation tool for management of habitat for threatened species: the quokka, Setonix brachyurus, in the southern forests of Western Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karlene Bain ◽  
Adrian Wayne ◽  
Roberta Bencini
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Threatened Species ◽  
Vegetation Structure ◽  
Habitat Management ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Occupancy Modelling ◽  
Vertical Vegetation Structure ◽  
Burnt Areas

Prescribed burning is frequently advocated as a means of managing habitat for threatened species. We studied effects of fire on the quokka (Setonix brachyurus), a species currently used as a focal species for planning prescribed burns in the southern forests of Western Australia. We examined (i) the recolonisation of burnt areas; (ii) the refuge value of unburnt vegetation; and (iii) fire prediction variables that may help to guide fire planning to achieve desired habitat management outcomes. We hypothesised that fire regimes promoting vegetation structure and patchiness of burnt and unburnt vegetation would result in more rapid recolonisation of burnt areas by quokkas. Occupancy modelling identified the most important variables for recolonisation as retention of vertical vegetation structure and multiple unburnt patches across >20% of the total area. These outcomes were associated with high surface moisture, low soil dryness and slow fire rates of spread. Intense wildfire resulted in complete loss of vegetation structure and a lack of unburnt patches, which contributed to these areas remaining uncolonised. Burning with high moisture differentials, maximising the effectiveness of edaphic barriers to fire, retaining unburnt vegetation and maintaining vegetation structure were found to be important elements of fire regimes in this region.

Guidelines for ecological burning regimes in Mediterranean ecosystems: a case study in Banksia woodlands in Western Australia.

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A Wilson ◽  
Janine Kuehs ◽  
Leonie E Valentine ◽  
Tracy Sonneman ◽  
Kristen M Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Mediterranean Ecosystems ◽  
Skewed Distribution ◽  
Complex Solutions ◽  
Fire Intervals ◽  
Associated Species

In Mediterranean ecosystems prescribed burning is commonly employed to reduce the risk or intensity of wildfires. As a consequence, a major challenge for conservation land managers is the development of fire regimes that reduce damaging wildfires and are optimal for biodiversity. The aim of this paper was to develop guidelines for ecological fire regimes using the Banksia woodland on the Gnangara Groundwater System in Western Australia as a case study. Development of the guidelines involved the determination of maximum and minimum fire intervals of key fire response species, analyses of fire history records and estimation of ideal age class distributions at the landscape level. Recommendations included a) adoption of a minimum fire interval of 8–16 years, b) implementation of a burning regime to redress the current skewed distribution (60%: 1–7 years since last fire), c) retention of long-unburnt habitats that are significant for species such as the critically endangered Calyptorhynchus latirostris (Carnaby’s black-cockatoo), and Tarsipes rostratus (honey possum), and d) protection for wetlands that can serve as fire ‘refugia’ for associated species, such as Isoodon obesulus fusciventer (southern brown bandicoot or quenda). The guidelines developed provide a model for the development of ecological burning regimes in other similar ecosystems. The implementation of ecological guidelines normally involves incorporation into fire management planning by fire agencies and often entails complex solutions to conflicting aims. The guidelines are thus valuable for ecologists and land managers, especially in light of an expected significant increase in global fire activity as a consequence of predicted climate change.

Surface runoff and erosion after prescribed burning and the effect of different fire regimes in forests and shrublands: a review

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 857 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Cawson ◽  
G. J. Sheridan ◽  
H. G. Smith ◽  
P. N. J. Lane
Keyword(s):  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Prescribed Burn ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Burnt Areas

This paper examines the state of knowledge about the effects of prescribed burning on surface runoff and erosion at point to catchment scales in forests and shrublands. Fires can increase surface runoff and erosion by removing vegetation, changing soil hydrologic properties and providing a readily erodible layer of sediment and ash. Catchment-scale studies in prescribed-burnt areas usually report minimal impacts from the burn. However, measurements at smaller spatial scales suggest that large changes to hydrologic properties and processes do occur, and a debris-flow example from Australia demonstrates that large catchment-scale impacts are possible. It appears that existing catchment-scale studies in prescribed burns do not capture these large events as the sample size (i.e. number of studies) is too small relative to the infrequency of such events. Furthermore, numerous knowledge gaps across all spatial scales limit understanding of the processes contributing to post-prescribed burn runoff and erosion. Understanding the influence of fire regime characteristics on post-fire runoff and erosion is particularly important in the context of prescribed burning, as fire regimes can be manipulated to reduce erosion and water-quality impacts. Therefore, two directions for future research are recommended: (1) process-based studies to understand the factors controlling surface runoff and erosion, particularly in relation to aspects of the fire regime; and (2) landscape-scale surveys to quantify large erosion events.

Long-term impact of prescribed burning on the nutrient status and fuel loads of rehabilitated bauxite mines in Western Australia

2004 ◽  
Vol 190 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 227-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Morley ◽  
Carl Grant ◽  
Richard Hobbs ◽  
Viki Cramer
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Nutrient Status ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
Bauxite Mines ◽  
Long Term Impact

scholarly journals The influence of prescribed fire on the extent of wildfire in savanna landscapes of western Arnhem Land, Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen F. Price ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽  
Felicity Watt
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Arnhem Land

Fire regimes in many north Australian savanna regions are today characterised by frequent wildfires occurring in the latter part of the 7-month dry season. A fire management program instigated from 2005 over 24 000 km2 of biodiversity-rich Western Arnhem Land aims to reduce the area and severity of late dry-season fires, and associated greenhouse gas emissions, through targeted early dry-season prescribed burning. This study used fire history mapping derived mostly from Landsat imagery over the period 1990–2009 and statistical modelling to quantify the mitigation of late dry-season wildfire through prescribed burning. From 2005, there has been a reduction in mean annual total proportion burnt (from 38 to 30%), and particularly of late dry-season fires (from 29 to 12.5%). The slope of the relationship between the proportion of early-season prescribed fire and subsequent late dry-season wildfire was ~–1. This means that imposing prescribed early dry-season burning can substantially reduce late dry-season fire area, by direct one-to-one replacement. There is some evidence that the spatially strategic program has achieved even better mitigation than this. The observed reduction in late dry-season fire without concomitant increase in overall area burnt has important ecological and greenhouse gas emissions implications. This efficient mitigation of wildfire contrasts markedly with observations reported from temperate fire-prone forested systems.

scholarly journals Fire regimes, biodiversity conservation and prescribed-burning programs

2012 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Malcolm Gill
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Protection Of Life ◽  
Conservation Of Biodiversity ◽  
Safe Working

In the trend towards the domestication, or taming, of fire regimes in Victoria, Australia, the level of prescribed burning has been stepped up due to a recommendation from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. While prescribed burning programs may be instituted for a number of reasons, especially the protection of life and property, they have consequences for the conservation of biodiversity. Not all vegetation types can be prescribed burned because the weather does not always allow it to occur under safe working conditions; where prescribed burning programs are carried out, unplanned fires may still occur. Thus, the general issue is the effect on biodiversity of both prescribed and unplanned fires, neither alone. Here, the importance to biodiversity conservation of all the components of the fire regime– interval, season, intensity and type (peat fire or otherwise) – and their domain of variability is emphasized. If conservation of biodiversity is to be guaranteed in a changing fire world, then much more knowledge about the systems being managed, gained in large part through effective monitoring, is needed. Issues such as targets and some assumptions of management are addressed here.

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.

The sum of small parts: changing landscape fire regimes across multiple small landholdings in north-western Australia with collaborative fire management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wysong ◽  
Sarah Legge ◽  
Alex Clark ◽  
Stefan Maier ◽  
Bardi Jawi Rangers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Small Parts ◽  
North Western

Fire and open ecosystems

2019 ◽  
pp. 97-120
Author(s):  
William J. Bond
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Structure ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Alternative Stable States ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Emergent Property ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Mosaic Landscapes ◽  
Patterns And Processes

Can fire account for the widespread occurrence of open ecosystems? This chapter explores fire as a major consumer shaping vegetation in diverse regions worldwide. The concept of fire regime helps explain the diverse influences of fire on vegetation structure. Fire regimes select compatible growth forms from the species pool. These, in turn, create the fuel which in large part determines the fire regime. Experimental evidence can show whether fire is a major determinant of vegetation structure or merely an emergent property of ecosystems determined by climate and soils. Whether fires consume closed forests or stop at their margins will determine the dominant vegetation in mosaic landscapes. A mechanistic framework for analysing processes influencing fire effects on the boundary is introduced with examples. Pyrophilic open systems in mosaics with pyrophobic closed forests have been considered as examples of Alternative Stable States. Recent evidence for the patterns and processes expected by ASS theory are discussed.

scholarly journals The origins of prescribed burning in Scandinavian forestry: the seminal role of Joel Wretlind in the management of fire-dependent forests

2019 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-406
Author(s):  
Sarah Cogos ◽  
Samuel Roturier ◽  
Lars Östlund
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Forest Manager ◽  
Forest District

AbstractIn Sweden, prescribed burning was trialed as early as the 1890s for forest regeneration purposes. However, the origins of prescribed burning in Sweden are commonly attributed to Joel Efraim Wretlind, forest manager in the State Forest district of Malå, Västerbotten County, from 1920 to 1952. To more fully understand the role he played in the development of prescribed burning and the extent of his burning, we examined historical records from the State Forest Company’s archive and Wretlind’s personal archive. The data showed that at least 11,208 ha was burned through prescribed burning between 1921 and 1970, representing 18.7% of the Malå state-owned forest area. Wretlind thus created a new forestry-driven fire regime, reaching, during peak years, extents close to historical fire regimes before the fire suppression era, and much higher than present-day burning. His use of prescribed fire to regenerate forests served as a guide for many other forest managers, spreading to all of northern Sweden during the 1950–1960s. Our analysis of Wretlind’s latest accounts also shows how he stood against the evolutions of modern forestry to defend a forestry system based on the reproduction of natural processes, such as fire.

Changes in the status and distribution of four species of parrot in the south of Western Australia during 1970-90

1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Mawson ◽  
John L. Long
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Winter Rainfall ◽  
Mail Surveys ◽  
Dietary Preferences ◽  
Ecological Requirements ◽  
South West ◽  
The Status

Mail surveys were sent to field staff of the Agriculture Protection Board of Western Australia to assess the distribution and status of four species of parrot in the agricultural region of south-west Western Australia in 1970, 1980 and 1990. The surveys indicated that the populations of the Regent Parrot (Polytelis anthopeplus) and the Western Rosella (Platycercus icterotis) have declined in range considerably since 1970. The populations of the Red-capped Parrot (Purpureicephalus spurius) and the Port Lincoln Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius) have suffered little or not at all during the same period. Factors which appear to have contributed to the observed changes in distribution and status include clearing for agriculture, dietary preferences, physiology, habitat requirements, altered fire regimes, grazing by exotic herbivores and reduced winter rainfall. These surveys have shown that species which were formerly considered common and widespread have declined with little comment having been made of these changes. The implications of this are serious, both for these formerly common species and for rarer bird species which have similar ecological requirements. The technique of mail surveys has considerable merit for quickly assessing the status of some species of birds, but will be limited by the expertise of the respondents and the degree to which the species in question can be observed.

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