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1.
Abstract A new fire history for south‐western Australian sclerophyll forests was proposed recently based on grasstree (Xanthorrhoea preissii ) records that were interpreted to show a high frequency (3–5 years) ‘pre‐European burning regime’. Such a fire regime appears incompatible with the long‐term survival of many fire‐killed woody taxa. We investigated the local fire history in a small area of the northern sand‐plain shrub‐lands of south‐western Australia using 15 grasstrees, examining individual grasstree records in detail and comparing this with the decadal or averaged approach used in the original research, and with fire histories reconstructed from satellite images for the period since 1975. Results lead us to question the utility of the proposed grasstree fire history record as a tool for understanding past fire regimes for two reasons: First, inconsistencies in fire histories among individual grasstrees were considerable – some individuals were not burnt by known fires, while some apparently were burned many times during periods when others were not burned at all. Second, the grasstree record indicates a possible increase in patchiness of fires since 1930, while contemporary evidence and interpretations of the nature of Aboriginal (pre‐European) fire regimes would suggest the opposite. We believe that further research is needed to identify to what extent the grasstree method for reconstruction of fire histories can be used to re‐interpret how fire operated in many highly diverse ecosystems prior to European settlement of Australia. 相似文献
2.
ANNE BÜLOW-OLSEN J. JUST M. J. LIDDLE 《Botanical journal of the Linnean Society. Linnean Society of London》1982,84(3):195-207
The settlement of Australia by European man has been a major ecological factor in the history of the vegetation. A reconstruction of one aspect of this influence is given, based on estimations of the growth rate and flowering history of a population of Xanthorrhoea johnsonii .
The age structure of four parts of the existing population within the campus of Griffith University, Brisbane was examined. The mean growth rate, based on counts of leaf production and the number of leaf scars per unit length of the caudexes, was estimated to be 0.88 (s.d. 0.17) cm year-1 . The flowering history was reconstructed from the numbers and positions of flower scars recorded after removal of the leaf bases from 264 individuals. Flowering potential appears to increase up to about 50 years of age and is then relatively stable. Flower production gradually increased from 1820 to 1967 and then fell sharply. Since 1840 there is a strong correlation between the number of residences established within 3 km of the site and the number of flowers produced. The number of plants flowering is known to increase as a result of fire, and we therefore suggest that increasing numbers of accidental or deliberate fires started by settlers and later inhabitants may have caused the increase in flowering. 相似文献
The age structure of four parts of the existing population within the campus of Griffith University, Brisbane was examined. The mean growth rate, based on counts of leaf production and the number of leaf scars per unit length of the caudexes, was estimated to be 0.88 (s.d. 0.17) cm year
3.
Aim This paper aims to reconstruct a high‐resolution fire and vegetation history from a period when humans were absent in Australia. This is then used to comment on the frequency of natural fire in high biodiversity heathland, and to compare this with historical fire regime in the same region. Methods A section of varved sediment covering a period of c. 84 years was taken from Palaeolake Yallalie in south‐western Australia. The sediments were separated into approximately single to small multiples of years and then analysed for charcoal, pollen and sediment analysis to reconstruct the environmental conditions at the time. Results The charcoal record indicates fire recurrence to have been roughly between 5 and 13 years, a little longer than those of the historical period. The pollen record was dominated by Casuarinaceae, Myrtaceae and a large number of Proteaceae species; these are intermixed with Araucariaceae, Nothofagus and Podocarpus. This suggests there was a mix of sclerophyll woodland and a mosaic of rain forest elements, thus conditions must have been wetter, particularly in the summers, compared with today. Conclusions We assume that fire was most likely confined to the sclerophyll vegetation, and that fire has been a significant feature of the environment long before humans entered Australia. The slightly longer fire recurrence times compared with the present result from the intermittent nature of lightning and wetter summers at the time. 相似文献
4.
Question: Is post‐fire, medium‐term vegetation dynamics determined by land‐use or fire history prior to fire? Location: South‐facing slope in the Gallinera valley, Alicante province, eastern Spain. Methods: After mapping the land‐use and fire history of the study site using photo‐interpretation, we sampled vegetation structure on a set of plots representing the most frequent land‐use and fire history combinations on an area burned six years before sampling. We studied the effects of land‐use history, comparing the one‐fire land‐use trajectories. We analysed the effects of fire history; comparing one‐ and two‐fire plots for both previously cropped and uncropped areas. Results: Most variables were not significantly different between the earliest abandoned plots (abandoned at least 38 years before the fire) and the uncropped plots. On the most recently abandoned plots (abandoned between one and four years before the fire), the therophyte richness and the ratio of seeder: resprouter richness were significantly greatest. Different fire recurrences did not determine different post‐fire vegetation on either the uncropped or the early abandoned plots (all dominated by fire‐recruited seeder shrubs). The most recently abandoned plots had a lower resilience to fire. Conclusions: Land‐use history and recent pre‐fire land use, in particular, determined the post‐fire vegetation in the medium term. The vegetation composition converged during secondary succession among land‐use histories. Increasing fire recurrence had a small effect on mature plant communities, due to the combination of life‐history traits determining the response to fire of the dominant species. 相似文献
5.
Abstract Yallalie is a probable meteor impact crater and in the Upper Pliocene contained a substantial lake. Two Mid‐Pliocene finely laminated sediment records from Palaeolake Yallalie, from about 3 million years ago, provide evidence of fire and fire frequency in the sclerophyll woodland and heaths of south‐western Australia in the absence of humans. Fine charcoal was observed in all samples examined, and was deposited at a rate of about 0.3–0.8 cm2 cm?2 year?1 in Palaeolake Yallalie. This evidence suggests the occurrence of annual fires occurring every year in the slightly warmer and wetter climate compared with today. The near coastal western location and the prevailing westerly winds probably carry charcoal from the near region or lake catchment scale. The data indicate that local fires occurred at a variety of time intervals between 3 and 13 years, with a typical average of 6–10 years. The results are comparable with those of Atahan et al. (2004) for the same site but from a period of about 200 000 years later in the Mid‐Pliocene. Thus, the records which differ in age by some hundreds of thousands of years have all recorded fire frequencies that are longer than for the historical period and this may have important implications for the long‐term survival of the integrity of the high biodiversity plant communities of the region. 相似文献
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Pine barrens include an assortment of pyrogenic plant communities occurring on glacial outwash or rocky outcrops scattered along the Atlantic coastal plain from New Jersey to Maine, and inward across New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and the northern Great Lakes region. At least historically, pine barrens provided some of the highest quality terrestrial shrublands and young forests in the eastern North American sub‐boreal and northern temperate region. However, the mosaic open‐canopy, sparse‐shrub, and grassland early successional state is generally lacking in contemporary pine barrens. Many sites in the northeastern United States have converted to overgrown scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia, Quercus prinoides) thickets and closed canopied pitch pine (Pinus rigida)‐dominated forests. Thinning pitch pine is a contentious issue for the imperiled pitch pine‐scrub oak barrens community type (G2 Global Rarity Rank, 6–20 occurrences). Here we provide a historical, ecological, and resource management rationale for thinning pitch pine forest to restore savanna‐like open barrens with a mosaic of scrub oaks, heath shrubs, and prairie‐like vegetation. We postulate that the contemporary dominance of pitch pine forest is largely of recent anthropogenic origin, limits habitat opportunities for at‐risk shrubland fauna, and poses a serious wildfire hazard. We suggest maintaining pitch pine‐scrub oak barrens at 10–30% average pitch pine cover to simultaneously promote shrubland biodiversity and minimize fire danger. 相似文献
7.
Abstract Mulga (Acacia aneura Mimosaceae) and spinifex (Triodia spp. Poaceae) habitats together characterize a large part of arid central Australia. Often very abrupt boundaries form between these two habitats, giving rise to a mosaic pattern of contrasting shrub‐grass alterations across the landscape. Reasons for such patterning remain poorly understood though current niche‐based views relate species' distributions to spatial resource gradients or to fire effects. Field survey work was conducted on central Australian mountain ranges to further quantify floristic, regeneration traits, and structural patterning across mulga‐spinifex transitions and to test resource‐ and disturbance‐models that explain these patterns. Compositional analysis demonstrated variability in transition type – in certain cases boundaries denoted true floristic discontinuity and in others, somewhat more of a structural shift. Moreover, it was shown that minimal between‐habitat floristic overlap coincided with the occurrence of distinct edaphic changes, while greater compositional commonality occurred when soil gradients were more diffuse. This indicated that floristic patterning cannot be ascribed to any one single process. In the case of strong soil gradients, between‐habitat segregation most likely resulted from resource‐based niche differentiation; for weaker gradients, fire‐frequency assumed greatest importance. Disturbance theory most readily accounted for the distribution of woody species' post‐fire regeneration traits across habitat boundaries. The results also suggested that biotic factors –viz competition, facilitation and animal‐mediated dispersal – may be of additional consequence for mulga‐spinifex coexistence. Overall, the study served to emphasize the importance of multi‐factor explanation for within‐ and between‐habitat patterning in these mosaics. It also highlighted the need for experimentation to facilitate distinction between cause and correlation. 相似文献
8.
R. J. Fensham 《Journal of Biogeography》1997,24(1):11-22
ABSTRACT. The record of eighteenth and nineteenth century explorers' references to Aboriginal fire in Queensland was stratified according to fourteen vegetation typcs and season of fire. It was demonstrated that references to 'current' fire (i.e. flames or smoke) may not represent traditional Aboriginal activity and that many fires were lit to frighten or harm, to protect themselves from, or to signal to kinfolk the presence of the European intruders. Because of this interpretational difficulty the records to 'current' fire were treated separately from 'past' fire (i.e. burnt ground). The data were analysed as the number of observations per 100 km spent in each vegetation type for any one season to compensate for bias created by differing amounts of travel. The record suggests highest frequency of burning in grassland around the Gulf of Carpentaria, relatively high fire frequency of most coastal and subcoastal vegetation types and relatively infrequent burning of inland Queensland. The analysis indicates a propensity for winter and autumn fue relative to spring and summer fire in all vegetation types combined and in most individual vegetation types. 相似文献
9.
D. M. J. S. Bowman G. K. Brown M. F. Braby J. R. Brown L. G. Cook M. D. Crisp F. Ford S. Haberle J. Hughes Y. Isagi L. Joseph J. McBride G. Nelson P. Y. Ladiges 《Journal of Biogeography》2010,37(2):201-216
Aim This paper reviews the biogeography of the Australian monsoon tropical biome to highlight general patterns in the distribution of a range of organisms and their environmental correlates and evolutionary history, as well as to identify knowledge gaps. Location Northern Australia, Australian Monsoon Tropics (AMT). The AMT is defined by areas that receive more than 85% of rainfall between November and April. Methods Literature is summarized, including the origin of the monsoon climate, present‐day environment, biota and habitat types, and phylogenetic and geographical relationships of selected organisms. Results Some species are widespread throughout the AMT while others are narrow‐range endemics. Such contrasting distributions correspond to present‐day climates, hydrologies (particularly floodplains), geological features (such as sandstone plateaux), fire regimes, and vegetation types (ranging from rain forest to savanna). Biogeographical and phylogenetic studies of terrestrial plants (e.g. eucalypts) and animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) suggest that distinct bioregions within the AMT reflect the aggregated effects of landscape and environmental history, although more research is required to determine and refine the boundaries of biogeographical zones within the AMT. Phylogenetic analyses of aquatic organisms (fishes and prawns) suggest histories of associations with drainage systems, dispersal barriers, links to New Guinea, and the existence of Lake Carpentaria, now submerged by the Gulf of Carpentaria. Complex adaptations to the landscape and climate in the AMT are illustrated by a number of species. Main conclusions The Australian monsoon is a component of a single global climate system, characterized by a dominant equator‐spanning Hadley cell. Evidence of hot, seasonally moist climates dates back to the Late Eocene, implying that certain endemic elements of the AMT biota have a long history. Vicariant differentiation is inferred to have separated the Kimberley and Arnhem Land bioregions from Cape York Peninsula/northern Queensland. Such older patterns are overlaid by younger events, including dispersal from Southeast Asia, and range expansions and contractions. Future palaeoecological and phylogenetic investigations will illuminate the evolution of the AMT biome. Understanding the biogeography of the AMT is essential to provide a framework for ecological studies and the sustainable development of the region. 相似文献
10.
Hummock grasses in the genus Triodia R. Br. were examined at 116 recently burned locations across mainland Australia, and were recorded as regenerating by resprouting, or by seed only. Prior to this survey it was known that the capacity to resprout varies considerably in Triodia, but it was unclear whether some species might be entirely resprouting and other species entirely fire-killed; whether this might be associated with particular traits of species or particular landscape types; or whether resprouting might be more common in particular regions such as the northern monsoonal grasslands. Seven species had both fire-killed and resprouting populations represented among the sites examined. Three species [T. basedowii E. Pritzel, T. marginata N.T. Burbidge and T. melvillei (C.E. Hubbard) Lazarides] were recorded as fire-killed at all sites examined, and five species [T. bynoei (C.E. Hubbard) Lazarides, T. bunicola (S.W.L. Jacobs) Lazarides, T. intermedia Cheel, T. molesta N.T. Burbidge and T. spicata N.T. Burbidge] were recorded as resprouting at all sites. Another seven species were recorded at one site only. There was no clear overall trend for fire-killed populations to be more prevalent in south rather than north, or east vs west, or coastal vs inland parts of the continent. No clear relationships were found between regeneration strategy and site attributes. Considered as a group, resprouting species were more likely to have an open growth form than a dense growth form, whereas the opposite was true for fire-killed species. Given that no trait either of species or of landscape was found to be a consistent correlate of resprouting, a likely inference is that resprouting might vary between different fires, even for a given population at a given site. Against this inference, fire-killed populations had substantial densities of seedlings much more often. Longitudinal studies would be needed to demonstrate directly whether resprouting varied between different fires at a site, and to investigate the implications of this for maintenance or extinction of local populations. 相似文献
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12.
The impact of Aboriginal landscape burning on the Australian biota 总被引：12，自引：0，他引：12
D. M. J. S. BOWMAN 《The New phytologist》1998,140(3):385-410
13.
Beth Gott 《Journal of Biogeography》2005,32(7):1203-1208
Aim To examine the purpose of burning by Aborigines of south‐eastern Australia. Location South‐eastern Australia. Methods A survey of the ethnography and ecology relating to Aboriginal fire. Results Ecologists have only recently acknowledged the past history of Aboriginal burning. Its purpose was to maximise plant and animal food resources. Main Conclusions The seasonal timing and frequency of Aboriginal burning is embedded in various ecosystems. 相似文献
14.
Mohammad Javidkar Steven J. B. Cooper William F. Humphreys Rachael A. King Simon Judd Andrew D. Austin 《Zoologica scripta》2018,47(2):206-220
Groundwater calcretes in arid central Western Australia contain a diverse invertebrate groundwater fauna (stygofauna). Surveys have uncovered a diverse oniscidean isopod subterranean fauna above the water table (troglofauna), including species of a recently described genus Paraplatyarthrus. The aim of this study was to investigate the biogeographic history of Paraplatyarthrus and the timing of transitions from surface to subterranean habitats. Phylogenetic relationships among the isopod troglofauna from 11 groundwater calcretes along three palaeodrainage systems were assessed using one mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI), and two nuclear markers, lysyl‐tRNA synthetase (LysRS) and 18S rRNA (18S) genes. Phylogenetic analyses revealed multiple sister lineage relationships between troglophile and troglobite lineages and evidence for divergent mtDNA lineages within species, providing a range of nodes for dating evolutionary transitions from surface to subterranean habitats. Relaxed molecular clock analyses provided evidence that evolutionary transitions from surface to subterranean environments took place between 13.3 and 1.75 million years ago, coinciding with the onset of aridification of Australia from the late Tertiary. In cases where groundwater calcretes contained multiple species, the taxa were not closely related phylogenetically, suggesting that these calcretes were independently colonised by multiple ancestral species. The study further confirmed the role of late/post‐Miocene aridification as a key driver of the evolution of subterranean invertebrates in the calcrete islands of Western Australia, supporting the climatic relict hypothesis. Troglobites most likely evolved from the troglophile ancestors that were capable of dispersal among, and active colonisation of, calcretes. 相似文献
15.
We (Murphy et al., 2013; Clarke et al., 2015) have recently developed a framework to understand the spatial distribution of fire regimes and plant fire‐response traits at large spatial scales. We integrated a range of data sources to create a continental‐scale overview of Australian pyromes from which to infer pyrogeographic drivers. Gosper et al. (in press) have criticized our approach, based on our misclassification of a vegetation type (eucalypt woodland), with distinct fire regime, in the Coolgardie bioregion of Western Australia. We argue that the intention of our integrative approach was to develop and refine conceptual models of Australian pyrogeography, not to produce a predictive map of fire regimes, and certainly not to guide local‐scale fire management. Like all models, continental‐scale syntheses of pyromes are imperfect, yet they still represent powerful tools for understanding the drivers of the spatial distribution of fire regimes. 相似文献
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A new method of ageing and determining the fire history of grasstrees, based on colour bands running along the stem, has been developed. As part of our evaluation of the technique, we examined the structural and chemical basis of the colour differences. Exposed ends of the leaf bases are cream, brown and black, with the inner cortex, especially in the black leaf bases, being darker than the outer cortex. There was no structural difference between the three leaf base types. Tannin concentration increased from cream to brown to black leaf bases, and from the inner to outer cortex, and remained quite stable over many years. Both water-soluble and insoluble pigments contribute to the darkness of the black leaf bases. A hydrophobic naphthoquinone was present in the conducting tissues of the vascular bundles, and related naphthalene-derivatives were present in the surrounding tissues. We conclude that the colour differences between the leaf bases have a chemical basis that can be linked to environmental changes: tannin cells to phenological effects, and naphthalene-derivatives in the vascular core to the passage of fire. 相似文献
18.
Aim Fire is a key agent in savanna systems, yet the capacity to predict fine‐grained population phenomena under variable fire regime conditions at landscape scales is a daunting challenge. Given mounting evidence for significant impacts of fire on vulnerable biodiversity elements in north Australian savannas over recent decades, we assess: (1) the trajectory of fire‐sensitive vegetation elements within a particularly biodiverse savanna mosaic based on long‐term monitoring and spatial modelling; (2) the broader implications for northern Australia; and (3) the applicability of the methodological approach to other fire‐prone settings. Location Arnhem Plateau, northern Australia. Methods We apply data from long‐term vegetation monitoring plots included within Kakadu National Park to derive statistical models describing the responses of structure and floristic attributes to 15 years of ambient (non‐experimental) fire regime treatments. For a broader 28,000 km2 region, we apply significant models to spatial assessment of the effects of modern fire regimes (1995–2009) on diagnostic closed forest, savanna and shrubland heath attributes. Results Significant models included the effects of severe fires on large stems of the closed forest dominant Allosyncarpia ternata, stem densities of the widespread savanna coniferous obligate seeder Callitris intratropica, and fire frequency and related fire interval parameters on numbers of obligate seeder taxa characteristic of shrubland heaths. No significant relationships were observed between fire regime and eucalypt and non‐eucalypt adult tree components of savanna. Spatial application of significant models illustrates that more than half of the regional closed forest perimeters, savanna and shrubland habitats experienced deleterious fire regimes over the study period, except in very dissected terrain. Main conclusions While north Australia’s relatively unmodified mesic savannas may appear structurally intact and healthy, this study provides compelling evidence that fire‐sensitive vegetation elements embedded within the savanna mosaic are in decline under present‐day fire regimes. These observations have broader implications for analogous savanna mosaics across northern Australia, and support complementary findings of the contributory role of fire regimes in the demise of small mammal fauna. The methodological approach has application in other fire‐prone settings, but is reliant on significant long‐term infrastructure resourcing. 相似文献
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