Fire research for conservation management in tropical savannas: Introducing the Kapalga fire experiment

Abstract Fire is a dominant feature of tropical savannas throughout the world, and provides a unique opportunity for habitat management at the landscape scale. We provide the background and methodology for a landscape-scale savanna fire experiment at Kapalga, located in Kakadu National Park in the seasonal tropics of northern Australia. The experiment addresses the limitations of previous savanna fire experiments, including inappropriately small sizes of experimental units, lack of replication, consideration of a narrow range of ecological responses and an absence of detailed measurement of fire behaviour. In contrast to those elsewhere in the world, Australia's savannas are sparsely populated and largely uncleared, with fires lit primarily in a conservation, rather than pastoral, context. Fire management has played an integral role in the traditional lifestyles of Aboriginal people, who have occupied the land for perhaps 50 000 years or more. Currently the dominant fire management paradigm is one of extensive prescribed burning early in the dry season (May-June), in order to limit the extent and severity of fires occurring later in the year. The ecological effects of different fire regimes are hotly debated, but we identify geo-chemical cycling, tree demography, faunal diversity and composition, phenology, and the relative importance of fire intensity, timing and frequency, as critical issues. Experimental units (‘compartments’) at Kapalga are 15–20km² catchments, centred on seasonal creeks that drain into major rivers. Each compartment has been burnt according to one of four treatments, each replicated at least three times: ‘Early’- fires lit early in the dry season, which is the predominant management regime in the region; ‘Late’- fires lit late in the dry season, as occurs extensively in the region as unmanaged ‘wildfires’; ‘Progressive’- fires lit progressively throughout the dry season, such that different parts of the landscape are burnt as they progressively dry out (believed to approximate traditional Aboriginal burning practices); and ‘Unburnt’- no fires lit, and wildfires excluded. All burning treatments have been applied annually for 5 years, from 1990 to 1994. Six core projects have been conducted within the experimental framework, focusing on nutrients and atmospheric chemistry, temporary streams, vegetation, insects, small mammals, and vertebrate predators. Detailed measurements of fire intensity have been taken to help interpret ecological responses. The Kapalga fire experiment is multidisciplinary, treatments have been applied at a landscape scale with replication, and ecological responses can be related directly to measurements of fire intensity. We are confident that this experiment will yield important insights into the fire ecology of tropical savannas, and will make a valuable contribution to their conservation management.     

Comparison of iron,manganese, and phosphorus retention in freshwater littoral sediment with growth of Littorella uniflora and benthic microalgae

Sediment columns from an oligotrophic lake were percolatedwith artificial porewater in two 46-day experiments toexamine the effects of Littorella uniflora and benthicmicroalgae on retention of phosphorus (P) by either iron(Fe) or manganese (Mn). Cumulative retention of P, Fe, andMn was 2–5 times higher in sediment with L. uniflora thanin sediment with microalgae, because of higher P uptake andmore efficient Fe and Mn oxidation by L. uniflora than bymicroalgae. Thus 34% and 21%of added P was retained in L. uniflora inhabited sediments asmetal-oxide bound P compared to 11% and2% in microalgae inhabited sediments, inexperiments supplied with Fe and Mn, respectively. Theatomic ratio of Fe/P precipitation was about 1 and forMn/P precipitation it was about 5. These ratios indicateprecipitation of Fe(III)-phosphate (strengite) and metastableMn(IV)-compounds containing phosphate and hydroxide ions invariable amounts. In addition to metal-oxide P precipitation,increased P retention in the vegetated sediment was also causedby the presence of humic acid compounds, which accountedfor about 26% of total retained P.     

Discovery of cryptic species among North American pine‐feeding Chionaspis scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)

Cryptic species are present in many animal groups and they may be best detected through large sample sizes collected over broad geographic ranges. Fine‐scale local adaptation has been hypothesized to occur in armoured scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) and a consequence of this process may be multiple cryptic species. We estimate species diversity of pine‐feeding Chionaspis scale insects across North America by inferring species boundaries using genealogical concordance across allele genealogies of two nuclear loci and one mitochondrial locus. Our ingroup sample includes 366 individual insects from 320 localities and 51 host species within the Pinaceae. We also conducted a morphological survey of all insect specimens and assigned them as either one of the two currently recognized pine‐feeding species, Ch. heterophyllae, Ch. Pinifoliae, or with undescribed morphology. Using maximum likelihood allele genealogies in a majority‐rule consensus to assess congruence, we conservatively detect ten species in this group. Most of these species are robust to alternative methods of genealogical inference (Bayesian inference, maximum parsimony) and a few are robust to the use of strict consensus to assess congruence. Species show both narrow and more widespread ranges where almost half of the individuals sampled belong to a single very widespread polyphagous species. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 104 , 47–62.     

Quantitative Analysis of the Early Powdery Mildew Infection Stages on Resistant Barley Genotypes

A classification system was developed, that allowed quantification of the leaf surface development of the barley powdery mildew fungus on barley. An experiment with Manchuria and Pallas as susceptible controls and 4 resistance gene each represented by three lines with different gene backgrounds showed two types of gene background effects. First a general effect comprised of different distributions of the elongating secondary hyphae (ESH) in the stomatal and interstomatal region between Manchuria and, Pallas, and a higher number of lobes per appressorium on Pallas than on Manchuria. These effects also applied to isolines of Manchuria and Pallas possessing each of the four genes investigated. Second a specific effect was noticed on the ESH frequency on Ml-k lines. The ESH frequency varied significantly at the 5% level between the highest and lowest value. An experiment with Pallas as susceptible control and Pallas isolines with 11 different resistance genes, showed that powdery mildew development was unaffected by host genotype until after the formation of an appressorium. The first host effect observed was on the number of lobes on the appressorium, which reflects the number of penetration attempts. This number increased as the degree of resistance increased, i.e. the ESH frequency decreased. The penetration stage also invariably proved to be the limiting stage, where the largest proportion of fungal propagules was stopped.     

Ethylene Evolution Stimulated by Succimc Acid-2,2-Dimethylhydrazide in Apple Shoots

The rate of ethylene production in the shoot tips of the apple cultivar ‘Ingrid Marie’ (Red motant) after succinic acid-2,2-dimethylhydrazide (SADH) treatment was investigated. The shoots were treated with SADH at 12.5, 25 or 50 mM in the months of June, July and August. The samples were analysed 7,15, 30 and 60 days after SADH spray. Ethylene production was considerably higher in the SADH-treated shoots than in the untreated ones. Application of 12.5 or 25mMSADH late in June stimulated ethylene production 3-fold, while 50 mM produced a 5-fold increase in ethylene production 7 days after spraying. There was a continuous decrease in ethylene production at the subsequent samplings. In untreated control shoots there was a slight increase. However, even 60 days after spraying the shoots treated with 50 mM had higher ethylene production than the control shoots. The same relationship was found in the shoots treated in the months of July and August. A parallelism has been established between the rate of ethylene production and growth retardation, A residual effect of SADH treatment in earlier years was demonstrated and is discussed.     

Species diversity and temporal distribution of ants in the semi-arid mallee region of northwestern Victoria

The ant communities of two adjacent sites bearing markedly different vegetation (heath and mallee) were studied using quadrat counts and pitfall traps in semi-arid northwestern Victoria. The ants were extremely abundant and rich in species (86 species from 27 genera were recorded from two 50 m × 25 m plots within 25 m of each other) and were dominated by species ofMonomorium and Iridomyrmex. Pronounced site differences in species composition were found, with 73% of the most abundant species showing a strong site preference. The ants exhibited marked seasonality: activity was highest in summer and lowest in winter and this was accompanied by a high turnover of species in time, resulting in pronounced seasonal differences in species composition. Most foraging was nocturnal during summer but was almost exclusively diurnal during winter, and individual species displayed distinctive patterns of diet foraging activity. Although the overall temporal distribution of the communities were apparently controlled by temperature, interspecific competition may also be an important factor influencing the seasonal and diel distributions of individual species, resulting in their high degree of temporal separation. The overall consequence is that although the study area contains many abundant species with similar ecological requirements, few of these are active in the same place at the same time.