Effects of large-scale high-severity fire on occupancy and abundances of an invasive large mammal in south-eastern Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Forsyth ◽  
Andrew M. Gormley ◽  
Luke Woodford ◽  
Tony Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Large Mammal ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Pellet Counts ◽  
Sambar Deer ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Context Despite large mammals being an important component of many ecosystems, there is little information on the impacts of fire on large mammal populations. Aims We evaluated the effects of the large-scale high-severity ‘Black Saturday’ fires of 7 February 2009 on occupancy and abundances of an invasive large mammal, the sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), in south-eastern Australia. Methods The effects of the Black Saturday fires on the abundance of sambar deer were assessed using repeated annual counts of faecal pellets during 2007–11 in Kinglake National Park, which was burnt, and in Mount Buffalo National Park, which was not burnt. Pre-fire occupancy was modelled from data collected at 80 4-km2 cells using three survey methods. The same survey methods were used at 15 burnt (n = 9 sampled pre-fire) and 15 unburnt (n = 5 sampled pre-fire) cells 16–24 months after Black Saturday. Because multiple surveys were performed in each cell, we used a Bayesian state–space site-occupancy model to partition changes in the probability of occupancy from changes in the probability of detection. Key results Counts of sambar deer pellets increased linearly during 2007–11 in the unburnt Mount Buffalo National Park. Pellet counts also increased linearly in Kinglake National Park from 2007 to 2008, and then decreased (to zero) following Black Saturday; pellet counts increased again in 2010 and 2011. Sambar deer occupancy was weakly reduced (from 0.99 to 0.88) in burnt cells 16–24 months after Black Saturday, but was little changed in unburnt cells (from 0.99 to 0.98). Conclusions We conclude that the abundance of sambar deer was substantially reduced by the large-scale high-severity Black Saturday fires, but that most burnt habitat was reoccupied 16–24 months later. Implications There is concern about the negative impacts of invasive sambar deer on native biodiversity, particularly immediately post-fire. Our study suggests that it takes at least 8 months before sambar deer recolonise areas burnt by a large-scale high-severity fire; however, a risk-averse approach would be to act (e.g. by erecting fences or culling) sooner than that.

scholarly journals Aves, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay territory, south-eastern Australia

Check List ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 479 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Lindenmayer ◽  
Christopher MacGregor ◽  
Darren Brown ◽  
Rebecca Montague-Drake ◽  
Mason Crane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Term Study ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
South Eastern Australia

A large-scale, long-term study is being conducted to describe the bird assemblages inhabiting a 6500 ha area at Booderee National Park, south-eastern Australia. In this paper, we provide a list of birds recorded within rainforest, forest, woodland, shrubland, heathland and sedgeland during surveys conducted each spring between 2003 and 2007. Of particular interest was the contrast between the birds of sites burned in a wildfire in 2003 and sites that remained unburned. We recorded a total of 103 species from 35 families. We found that after the major fire, the vast majority of individual species and the bird assemblage per se in most vegetation types recovered within two years. Exceptions occurred in structurally simple vegetation types such as sedgeland and wet heathland in which reduced levels of species had not returned to pre-fire (2003) levels by 2007.

scholarly journals Effects of large fires on biodiversity in south-eastern Australia: disaster or template for diversity?

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross A. Bradstock
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Habitat Variation ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Rate Adaptive ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Large fires coincident with drought occurred in south-eastern Australia during 2001–2007. Perceptions of large, intense fires as being ecologically ‘disastrous’ are common. These are summarised by four hypotheses characterising large fires as: (i) homogenous in extent and intensity; (ii) causing large-scale extinction due to perceived lack of survival and regeneration capacity among biota; (iii) degrading due to erosion and related edaphic effects; (iv) unnatural, as a consequence of contemporary land management. These hypotheses are examined using available evidence and shown to inadequately account for effects of large fires on biodiversity. Large fires do not burn homogeneously, though they may produce intensely burnt patches and areas. The bulk of biota are resilient through a variety of in situ persistence mechanisms that are reinforced by landscape factors. Severe erosive episodes following fire tend to be local and uncertain rather than global and inevitable. Redistribution of soil and nutrients may reinforce habitat variation in some cases. Signals of fire are highly variable over prehistoric and historic eras, and, in some cases, contemporary and pre-European signal levels are equivalent. The most important effects of large fires in these diverse ecological communities and landscapes stem from their recurrence rate. Adaptive management of fire regimes rather than fire events is required, based on an understanding of risks posed by particular regimes to biota.

Modelling the factors influencing Sambar Deer (Rusa unicolor) occurrence in the wet eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sotorra ◽  
D. Blair ◽  
W. Blanchard ◽  
D. Lindenmayer
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Mountain Ash ◽  
Sambar Deer ◽  
Central Highlands ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Many invasive species have had negative effects on the Australian environment, including the introduced Sambar Deer (Rusa unicolor). However, there is a paucity of information on the factors influencing the fine scale distribution and abundance patterns of Sambar Deer in south-eastern Australia. We present the results of a field survey of Sambar Deer in the Critically Endangered Mountain Ash ( Eucalyptus regnans) forests of the Central Highlands, Victoria. Our key question was: What factors influence detections of Sambar deer (based on scat counts) within the Mountain Ash forests of the Victorian Central Highlands? We surveyed 86 long-term field sites and detected a total of 245 groups of Sambar Deer pellets on 42% of these sites. Negative binomial regression modelling identified three factors associated with the occurrence of deer pellets. We recorded more pellets: (1) in 30 and 80 year old forest that remained unburned in fires that occurred in 2009, (2) on sites within closed National Parks relative to sites in State Forest, and (3) close to streams.

Can outbreaks of house mice in south-eastern Australia be predicted by weather models?

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles J. Krebs ◽  
Alice J. Kenney ◽  
Grant R. Singleton ◽  
Greg Mutze ◽  
Roger P. Pech ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Weather Variables ◽  
Mouse Population ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Outbreaks of house mice (Mus domesticus) occur irregularly in the wheat-growing areas of south-eastern Australia, and are thought to be driven by weather variability, particularly rainfall. If rainfall drives grass and seed production, and vegetation production drives mouse dynamics, we should achieve better predictability of mouse outbreaks by the use of plant-production data. On a broader scale, if climatic variability is affected by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, large-scale weather variables might be associated with mouse outbreaks. We could not find any association of mouse outbreaks over the last century with any ENSO measurements or other large-scale weather variables, indicating that the causal change linking mouse numbers with weather variation is more complex than is commonly assumed. For the 1960–2002 period we were only partly successful in using variation in cereal production to predict outbreaks of mice in nine areas of Victoria and South Australia, and we got better predictability of outbreaks from rainfall data alone. We achieved 70% correct predictions for a qualitative model using rainfall and 58% for a quantitative model using rainfall and spring mouse numbers. Without the detailed specific mechanisms underlying mouse population dynamics, we may not be able to improve on these simple models that link rainfall to mouse outbreaks.

Evidence of large-scale spatial declines in recruitment patterns of southern rock lobster Jasus edwardsii, across south-eastern Australia

2010 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Linnane ◽  
Caleb Gardner ◽  
David Hobday ◽  
André Punt ◽  
Richard McGarvey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Rock Lobster ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Jasus Edwardsii ◽  
Recruitment Patterns ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Genetic Variation and Phenotypic Plasticity in Populations of Paterson's Curse (Echium plantagineum L.) In South-Eastern Australia

1985 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 677 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Wood ◽  
R Degabriele
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Climatic Indices ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Moisture Regimes ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Natural populations of Echium plantagineum on an east-west line across south-eastern Australia were sampled on three occasions during the growing season, and seeds collected from individual plants in each population were grown in a common glasshouse. In another experiment seedlings of E. plantagineum were divided and clones from each plant were grown under two soil moisture regimes. Field populations differed significantly in all seven characters measured at all sampling dates but, with one exception, between-population differences were unrelated to five climatic indices. Glasshouse populations differed significantly in 15 of 27 characters; variations in some of these characters were related by regression analysis to one or more of the climatic indices. Clones grown under moisture stress flowered later, had proportionally wider leaves and were smaller than well watered clones. The data suggest that an ecocline has developed, or is developing, in E. plantagineum in south- eastern Australia in response to large-scale and long-term aspects of climate, although extensive genetic variation between individuals in each population was also observed. This species exhibits a great deal of phenotypic plasticity in response to localized environmental factors.

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