Less fuel for the fire: malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) nesting activity affects fuel loads and fire behaviour

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Smith ◽  
Sarah C. Avitabile ◽  
Steven W. J. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Minimum Diameter ◽  
Behaviour Modelling ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Nesting Activity ◽  
Mound Sites

Context Fire is an important driver of species distributions globally. At the same time, biota also influence fire regimes. Animal activities that modify fuel characteristics may influence fire regimes and hence ecosystem function. However, apart from herbivory, animal effects on fuels and fire behaviour have rarely been studied. Aims We examined the effect of nest building by malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) on litter fuel loads and fire behaviour in the fire-prone, semiarid mallee ecosystem of south-eastern Australia. Malleefowl nests consist of mounds constructed by raking large amounts of leaf litter from the surrounding area. Mound-building activity is likely to affect fuel loads and potentially affect fire behaviour in this environment. Methods Litter cover and mass were compared between paired mound and non-mound sites. Fire behaviour modelling was used to determine whether differences in fuel load were likely to translate into differences in fire behaviour. Additionally, in an area recently burnt by wildfire, the minimum diameter of burnt stems was compared between mound and non-mound sites to determine the effects of malleefowl activity on fire intensity. Key results Malleefowl nesting activity reduced litter fuel loads around mounds. Fire behaviour modelling and post-fire minimum stem diameter measurements showed this led to reduced fire intensity around mounds, even under extreme fire weather conditions. Conclusions The likelihood and intensity of fire is reduced around active malleefowl mounds. Malleefowl nesting contributes to more heterogeneous burn patterns in mallee vegetation. This in turn may contribute to the formation of fire refuges. Implications Few studies have examined the effects of animal activities on fire. This study demonstrates that non-trophic interactions of fauna with fuels may influence fire regimes. Species that reduce or disrupt the continuity or connectivity of fuels could have similar effects to malleefowl in fire-prone regions. Further examination of the interactions of animals and fire regimes will contribute to a better understanding and conservation management of fire-prone ecosystems.

Modelling the potential for prescribed burning to mitigate carbon emissions from wildfires in fire-prone forests of Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 629 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Bradstock ◽  
M. M. Boer ◽  
G. J. Cary ◽  
O. F. Price ◽  
R. J. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Burning Rates ◽  
Fuel Dynamics ◽  
Eucalypt Forests ◽  
In Fire

Prescribed fire can potentially reduce carbon emissions from unplanned fires. This potential will differ among ecosystems owing to inherent differences in the efficacy of prescribed burning in reducing unplanned fire activity (or ‘leverage’, i.e. the reduction in area of unplanned fire per unit area of prescribed fire). In temperate eucalypt forests, prescribed burning leverage is relatively low and potential for mitigation of carbon emissions from unplanned fires via prescribed fire is potentially limited. Simulations of fire regimes accounting for non-linear patterns of fuel dynamics for three fuel types characteristic of eucalypt forests in south-eastern Australia supported this prediction. Estimated mean annual fuel consumption increased with diminishing leverage and increasing rate of prescribed burning, even though average fire intensity (prescribed and unplanned fires combined) decreased. The results indicated that use of prescribed burning in these temperate forests is unlikely to yield a net reduction in carbon emissions. Future increases in burning rates under climate change may increase emissions and reduce carbon sequestration. A more detailed understanding of the efficacy of prescribed burning and dynamics of combustible biomass pools is required to clarify the potential for mitigation of carbon emissions in temperate eucalypt forests and other ecosystems.

Fungi and fire in Australian ecosystems: a review of current knowledge, management implications and future directions

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sapphire J. M. McMullan-Fisher ◽  
Tom W. May ◽  
Richard M. Robinson ◽  
Tina L. Bell ◽  
Teresa Lebel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fungal Community ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Trophic Group ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Essential Components

Fungi are essential components of all ecosystems in roles including symbiotic partners, decomposers and nutrient cyclers and as a source of food for vertebrates and invertebrates. Fire changes the environment in which fungi live by affecting soil structure, nutrient availability, organic and inorganic substrates and other biotic components with which fungi interact, particularly mycophagous animals. We review the literature on fire and fungi in Australia, collating studies that include sites with different time since fire or different fire regimes. The studies used a variety of methods for survey and identification of fungi and focussed on different groups of fungi, with an emphasis on fruit-bodies of epigeal macrofungi and a lack of studies on microfungi in soil or plant tissues. There was a lack of replication of fire treatment effects in some studies. Nevertheless, most studies reported some consequence of fire on the fungal community. Studies on fire and fungi were concentrated in eucalypt forest in south-west and south-eastern Australia, and were lacking for ecosystems such as grasslands and tropical savannahs. The effects of fire on fungi are highly variable and depend on factors such as soil and vegetation type and variation in fire intensity and history, including the length of time between fires. There is a post-fire flush of fruit-bodies of pyrophilous macrofungi, but there are also fungi that prefer long unburnt vegetation. The few studies that tested the effect of fire regimes in relation to the intervals between burns did not yield consistent results. The functional roles of fungi in ecosystems and the interactions of fire with these functions are explained and discussed. Responses of fungi to fire are reviewed for each fungal trophic group, and also in relation to interactions between fungi and vertebrates and invertebrates. Recommendations are made to include monitoring of fungi in large-scale fire management research programs and to integrate the use of morphological and molecular methods of identification. Preliminary results suggest that fire mosaics promote heterogeneity in the fungal community. Management of substrates could assist in preserving fungal diversity in the absence of specific information on fungi.

Acid frogs can stand the heat: amphibian resilience to wildfire in coastal wetlands of eastern Australia

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Lowe ◽  
J. Guy Castley ◽  
Jean-Marc Hero
Keyword(s):  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Moderate Intensity ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Coastal Heath ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Temperature Ranges ◽  
In Fire

Fire has varying effects on species ecology. Knowledge of amphibian responses to fire is particularly limited, with variable responses reported amongst studies. Variability is attributed to differences in fire regimes, sampling methodologies, historical exposure to fire and species traits. Acid frogs, a group of amphibians restricted to acidic coastal heath wetlands of eastern Australia, occupy a discrete ecological niche that is exposed to regular and intense fires. Visual encounter surveys conducted monthly over 2 years revealed different short- and long-term responses to fire in three threatened acid frog species (Litoria olongburensis, Litoria freycineti and Crinia tinnula). Fires altered the thermal properties of habitats by increasing substrate temperature and widening daily temperature ranges. Acid frog populations did not suffer adversely from moderate intensity fires as suitable refuges, including standing water, were available. All species were present shortly after fire with subsequent successful reproduction occurring once wetlands were sufficiently inundated. Time since fire was a strong predictor of landscape scale differences in average relative abundance of acid frogs, yet the relationships varied among species. This highlights the importance of assessing community-wide responses to fire at the landscape scale. The dynamic and adaptive responses observed within acid frog populations demonstrate substantial resilience to fire processes in these fire prone environments.

Unprecedented long-distance transport of macroscopic charcoal from a large, intense forest fire in eastern Australia: Implications for fire history reconstruction

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 947-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Woodward ◽  
Heather Ann Haines
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Long Distance Transport ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Distance Transport ◽  
Macroscopic Charcoal

Macroscopic charcoal records from wetland sediment cores are used to reconstruct long-term records of fire frequency. A central premise for the use of this tool is that macroscopic charcoal (>125 μm) represents local fires involving local vegetation. Several records reveal that there may often be exceptions to these guidelines. Previous studies have shown that particles larger than 1 cm long can travel at least 20 km from the location of a fire. We present observations of unprecedented long-distance transport of large (⩽5 cm long) charcoal particles at least 50 km from a fire west of Sydney, Australia. Factors that contribute to long-distance transport of large charcoal particles are fire intensity, upper level wind speed and landscape topography. The fires west of Sydney were large and intense, upper level (~10 km) winds exceeded 90 km h-1, and the topography east of the fire was flat or undulating. Smoke plumes from intense fires like this can reach an altitude of at least 15 km. Charcoal morphology also contributed to long-distance transport in this case. Eucalyptus trees can produce large quantities of aerodynamically efficient particles; from paper thin, smooth, decorticating bark and large sclerophyllous leaves. The presence of large macroscopic charcoal particles in wetland sediments does not automatically indicate local fires and could result from distant, large, intense fires. Large, intense fires can occur in Australia, the grasslands of Kazakhstan, Namibia, the Sahel and Patagonia. High intensity fires also occur in the forested areas of the western United States and Boreal North America. Fires in these regions could result in long-distance transport of large macroscopic charcoal particles under the right circumstances. Local charcoal flux studies are therefore critical for the interpretation of macroscopic charcoal records. We cannot rely on information from areas with different fire regimes, fire intensities or vegetation types.

Linking complex forest fuel structure and fire behaviour at fine scales

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 882 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Louise Loudermilk ◽  
Joseph J. O'Brien ◽  
Robert J. Mitchell ◽  
Wendell P. Cropper ◽  
J. Kevin Hiers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Bare Soil ◽  
Ensemble Classification ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Fuel Heterogeneity ◽  
Ground Based Lidar ◽  
The Individual ◽  
In Fire

Improved fire management of savannas and open woodlands requires better understanding of the fundamental connection between fuel heterogeneity, variation in fire behaviour and the influence of fire variation on vegetation feedbacks. In this study, we introduce a novel approach to predicting fire behaviour at the submetre scale, including measurements of forest understorey fuels using ground-based LIDAR (light detection and ranging) coupled with infrared thermography for recording precise fire temperatures. We used ensemble classification and regression trees to examine the relationships between fuel characteristics and fire temperature dynamics. Fire behaviour was best predicted by characterising fuelbed heterogeneity and continuity across multiple plots of similar fire intensity, where impacts from plot-to-plot variation in fuel, fire and weather did not overwhelm the effects of fuels. The individual plot-level results revealed the significance of specific fuel types (e.g. bare soil, pine leaf litter) as well as the spatial configuration of fire. This was the first known study to link the importance of fuelbed continuity and the heterogeneity associated with fuel types to fire behaviour at metre to submetre scales and provides the next step in understanding the complex responses of vegetation to fire behaviour.

Interactions between the superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) and fire in south-eastern Australia

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Nugent ◽  
Steven W. J. Leonard ◽  
Michael F. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Engineer ◽  
Alternative Stable States ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Forest Fuel ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Context The superb lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae is thought to be an important ecosystem engineer that, through its foraging, accelerates the decomposition of litter in Eucalyptus forests. Lyrebird foraging is therefore likely to affect forest fuel loads and hence fire behaviour in these fire-prone forests. In turn, fire is likely to reduce the abundance and influence the distribution of lyrebirds. Aims Our goal was to determine the impacts of a major bushfire on the habitat and food sources for the superb lyrebird and the effects of foraging activities of lyrebirds on litter fuel and potential fire behaviour in gullies of herb-rich foothill forests. Methods The effect of fire on lyrebirds and their habitat in the post-fire environment was examined at the landscape-scale, 2 years after fire; and at the patch-scale, 3 years after fire. Paired exclusion and control plots were also used over a 9-month period to assess the effects of foraging by the lyrebird on litter accumulation and fuel connectivity. Fire-behaviour models were used to determine the potential influence of lyrebird scratchings on fire behaviour. Key results At the landscape scale, lyrebirds were present in both unburnt and ground-burnt sites, but not in canopy-burnt sites. Within patchily burnt sites, lyrebirds favoured foraging in unburnt patches. On average, lyrebird foraging reduced litter fuel loads by 25% (1.66 t ha–1) in plots in which they were free to forage, compared with plots from which they were excluded, over a 9-month period. Fire-behaviour modelling showed that lyrebird foraging led to a lower likelihood of fire occurring and less intense fire. Conclusions Distinctly different vegetation structure and composition between burnt and unburnt patches appears to influence both the foraging patterns and distribution of lyrebirds. Additionally, foraging by lyrebirds reduces surface fuel loads and fuel connectivity such that fire spread is likely to be inhibited. Implications We propose that alternative stable states may emerge in Eucalyptus forests as a result of feedback mechanisms among lyrebirds, vegetation and fuel accumulation. Therefore, the ecological role of lyrebirds is an important consideration in forest fuel management and conservation in these extensive, fire-prone forests in south-eastern Australia.

An overview of mountain meteorological effects relevant to fire behaviour and bushfire risk

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason J. Sharples
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Rugged Terrain ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Meteorological Effects

Many of the processes that can occur in mountainous landscapes have the potential to significantly affect fire behaviour and bushfire risk in general. These processes can lead to otherwise unexpected fire behaviour and escalation in fire size and severity that could endanger firefighting crews and compromise suppression activities. Interaction of upper winds with rugged terrain can often result in highly variable and turbulent wind patterns and variations in temperature and humidity that can affect fire regimes in the long and short term. More generally, the effect of rugged terrain on atmospheric flows can give rise to complex dynamics and emergent properties that are discontinuous in nature. Hence, the ‘fire weather continuum’ that is often assumed in fire management practices is of reduced validity in mountainous or hilly landscapes. This paper presents an overview of the main elements of mountain meteorology relevant to fire weather and discusses the potential roles they may play in bushfire behaviour, development and risk. As such, the paper is intended to promote understanding, across the wide range of professions concerned with bushfire, of how mountain meteorological effects might contribute to fire potential and fire behaviour.

scholarly journals Distinguishing disturbance from perturbations in fire-prone ecosystems

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon E. Keeley ◽  
Juli G. Pausas
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regime ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Ecosystem Process ◽  
Type Conversion ◽  
Vegetation Shifts ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Historical Range

Fire is a necessary ecosystem process in many biomes and is best viewed as a natural disturbance that is beneficial to ecosystem functioning. However, increasingly, we are seeing human interference in fire regimes that alters the historical range of variability for most fire parameters and results in vegetation shifts. Such perturbations can affect all fire regime parameters. Here, we provide a brief overview of examples where anthropogenically driven changes in fire frequency, fire pattern, fuels consumed and fire intensity constitute perturbations that greatly disrupt natural disturbance cycles and put ecosystems on a different trajectory resulting in type conversion. These changes are not due to fire per se but rather anthropogenic perturbations in the natural disturbance regime.

Fuel loads, fire regimes, and post-fire fuel dynamics in Florida Keys pine forests

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay P. Sah ◽  
Michael S. Ross ◽  
James R. Snyder ◽  
Suzanne Koptur ◽  
Hillary C. Cooley
Keyword(s):  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Florida Keys ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fuel Type ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
Fuel Dynamics ◽  
Fuel Components

In forests, the effects of different life forms on fire behavior may vary depending on their contributions to total fuel loads. We examined the distribution of fuel components before fire, their effects on fire behavior, and the effects of fire on subsequent fuel recovery in pine forests within the National Key Deer Refuge in the Florida Keys. We conducted a burning experiment in six blocks, within each of which we assigned 1-ha plots to three treatments: control, summer, and winter burn. Owing to logistical constraints, we burned only 11 plots, three in winter and eight in summer, over a 4-year period from 1998 to 2001. We used path analysis to model the effects of fuel type and char height, an indicator of fire intensity, on fuel consumption. Fire intensity increased with surface fuel loads, but was negatively related to the quantity of hardwood shrub fuels, probably because these fuels are associated with a moist microenvironment within hardwood patches, and therefore tend to resist fire. Winter fires were milder than summer fires, and were less effective at inhibiting shrub encroachment. A mixed seasonal approach is suggested for fire management, with burns applied opportunistically under a range of winter and summer conditions, but more frequently than that prevalent in the recent past.

scholarly journals Twenty-first century droughts have not increasingly exacerbated fire season severity in the Brazilian Amazon

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Libonati ◽  
J. M. C. Pereira ◽  
C. C. Da Camara ◽  
L. F. Peres ◽  
D. Oom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Brazilian Amazon ◽  
First Century ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Amazon Forest ◽  
Active Fire ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
In Fire

AbstractBiomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon is modulated by climate factors, such as droughts, and by human factors, such as deforestation, and land management activities. The increase in forest fires during drought years has led to the hypothesis that fire activity decoupled from deforestation during the twenty-first century. However, assessment of the hypothesis relied on an incorrect active fire dataset, which led to an underestimation of the decreasing trend in fire activity and to an inflated rank for year 2015 in terms of active fire counts. The recent correction of that database warrants a reassessment of the relationships between deforestation and fire. Contrasting with earlier findings, we show that the exacerbating effect of drought on fire season severity did not increase from 2003 to 2015 and that the record-breaking dry conditions of 2015 had the least impact on fire season of all twenty-first century severe droughts. Overall, our results for the same period used in the study that originated the fire-deforestation decoupling hypothesis (2003–2015) show that decoupling was clearly weaker than initially proposed. Extension of the study period up to 2019, and novel analysis of trends in fire types and fire intensity strengthened this conclusion. Therefore, the role of deforestation as a driver of fire activity in the region should not be underestimated and must be taken into account when implementing measures to protect the Amazon forest.

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