A LANDSAT MSS-Derived Fire History of Kakadu National Park, Monsoonal Northern Australial, 1980-94: Seasonal Extent, Frequency and Patchiness

Russell‐Smith, Jeremy; Ryan, Paul G.; Durieu, Richard

doi:10.2307/2404920

Cited by 216 publications

(181 citation statements)

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“…Many studies have also argued that implementing a prescribed EDS burning program has substantial benefits in restricting the spread of extensive LDS wildfires (e.g. Russell-Smith et al 1997, 2003Yates et al 2008;Price et al 2012 Price et al (2012) showed that mean fire extent in the LDS period was reduced by 16.5% by comparison with the mean extent for the prior 15 years, yielding a mean overall reduction of 6%. Reduction in the extent and severity of LDS fires is known to have significant benefits both for obligate seeders and resprouting species (Williams et al , 1999Russell-Smith et al 2002b.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over that vast region, annual fire frequencies range from over 50% in higher rainfall regions to <5% in heavily grazed semi-arid savanna regions, with an overall mean frequency of 19%, over the period 1997(Russell-Smith et al 2007. In these ecosystems, fire is a natural ecological process required for maintaining biological diversity (Russell-Smith et al 2002a, Bowman et al 2003.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various studies have been undertaken to better understand fire patchiness, for a variety of ecological and associated land management purposes, in the USA (Turner et al 1994, Slocum et al 2003, southern Africa (Hudak et al 2004) , Spain (Román-Cuesta et al 2009 and Australia (Russell-Smith et al 1997, Allan 2001, Russell-Smith et al 2002b, RussellSmith and Edwards 2006. Russell-Smith and Edwards (2006) reported that EDS fires have 80% probability of being of low severity and would therefore be expected to have greater internal patchiness than LDS fires.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological Implications of Fine-Scale Fire Patchiness and Severity in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

et al. 2015

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Understanding fine-scale fire patchiness has significant implications for ecological processes and biodiversity conservation. It can affect local extinction of and recolonisation by relatively immobile fauna and poorly seeddispersed flora in fire-affected areas. This study assesses fine-scale fire patchiness and severity, and associated implications for biodiversity, in north Australian tropical savanna systems. We used line transects to sample burning patterns of ground layer vegetation in different seasons and vegetation structure types, within the perimeter of 35 fires that occurred between 2009 and 2011. We evaluated two main fire characteristics: patchiness (patch density and mean patch length) and severity (inferred from char and scorch heights, and char and ash proportions). The mean burned area of ground vegetation was 83% in the early dry season (EDS: May to July) and 93% in the late dry season (LDS: August to November). LDS fires were less patchy (smaller and fewer unburned patches), and had higher fire severity (higher mean char and scorch heights, and twice the proportion of ash) than EDS fires. Fire patchiness varied among vegetation types, declining under more open canopy structure. The relationship between burned area and fire severity depended on season, being strongly correlated in the EDS and uncorrelated in the LDS. Simulations performed to understand the implications of patchiness on the population dynamics of fire-interval sensitive plant species showed that small amounts of patchiness substantially enhance survival. Our results indicate that the ecological impacts of high frequency fires on fire-sensitive regional biodiversity elements are likely to be lower than has been predicted from remotely sensed studies that are based on assumptions of homogeneous burning. interval-sensitive plant species showed that small amounts of patchiness substantially enhance survival. Our results indicate that the ecological impacts of high frequency fires on fire-sensitive regional biodiversity elements are likely to be lower than has been predicted based on assumptions of homogeneous burning derived from remotely sensed studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological Implications of Fine-Scale Fire Patchiness and Severity in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

et al. 2015

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“…A fire history can serve as a useful database for land managers (Russell-Smith et al, 1997;van Wilgen et al, 2000;Hudak and Brockett, 2004). Provided the interpretation of burned and unburned areas is sufficiently accurate, Landsat data are suitable for determining between-fire intervals (Gill et al, 2000), patch characteristics (Turner et al, 1994;Haydon et al, 2000), fire severity (White et al, 1996;Hudak et al, 1998) and other aspects of fire regime.…”

Section: Justificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Landsat imagery, now available for over 30 years, can help provide useful data for mapping fire scars (Richards, 1984;Hudak et al, 1998;Patterson and Yool, 1998) and fire history (Russell-Smith et al, 1997;Hudak and Brockett, 2004). Landscape metrics may be applied to fire scar maps derived from Landsat imagery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in fire patterns in a southern African savanna under alternative land use practices

Hudak

Fairbanks

Brockett

2004

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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Climate, topography, vegetation and land use interact to influence fire regimes. Variable fire regimes may promote landscape heterogeneity, diversification in vegetation pattern and biotic diversity. The objective was to compare effects of alternative land use practices on landscape heterogeneity. Patch characteristics of fire scars were measured from 21 annual burn maps produced from 1972 to 2001 Landsat imagery. Trends in fire patterns under alternative land use practices were compared across a 250,000 ha savanna in southern Africa partitioned into three land use zones. Zone 1, Madikwe Game Reserve (MGR), has had mostly prescribed fires since 1993. Zone 2, cattle farms near MGR in South Africa (SAF), has experienced occasional fires. Zone 3, communal grazing lands in neighboring Botswana (BOT), has had the fewest fires. Cattle ranching was the predominant land use throughout the study area until 1992, when land use switched to conservation and eco-tourism in MGR. Sixteen landscape metrics were applied to this data set to uncover trends in the patch characteristics of the fire scars. A principal components analysis (PCA) reduced the dimensionality of the results so trends in the 10 most important size, shape, and proximity metrics could be better interpreted. The PCA results showed that more burning over time in MGR, and to a lesser extent in SAF, increased patch size, size variability, shape complexity and proximity, while fire exclusion in BOT produced no change or decreasing trends. We tested for significant differences in these metrics between the three land use zones and between two periods, 1972-1992 and 1993-2001. Most patch characteristics in MGR and SAF differed significantly from those in BOT, especially during the latter period, while between MGR and SAF they did not. Patch area, shape complexity and core area increased significantly between periods in MGR, while patch size, size variability and core area increased significantly between periods in SAF. In BOT, no patch characteristics changed significantly between periods. Within the time span analyzed for the study area, we conclude that increased fire occurrence promoted landscape heterogeneity while fire exclusion did not. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Convergence of Probability Measures

Billingsley¹

1999

Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics

5,869

447

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Airborne measurements of particle number concentrations from biomass burning were conducted in the Northern Territory, Australia, during June and September campaigns in 2003, which is the early and the late dry season in that region. The airborne measurements were performed along horizontal flight tracks, at several heights in order to gain insight into the particle concentration levels and their variation with height within the lower boundary layer (LBL), upper boundary layer (UBL), and also in the free troposphere (FT). The measurements found that the concentration of particles during the early dry season was lower than that for the late dry season. For the June campaign, the concentration of particles in LBL, UBL, and FT were (685 ± 245) particles/cm 3 , (365 ± 183) particles/cm 3 , and (495 ± 45) particle/cm 3 respectively. For the September campaign, the concentration of particles were found to be (1233 ± 274) particles/cm 3 in the LBL, (651 ± 68) particles/cm 3 in the UBL, and (568 ± 70) particles/cm 3 in the FT.The particle size distribution measurements indicate that during the late dry season there was no change in the particle size distribution below (LBL) and above the boundary layer (UBL). This indicates that there was possibly some penetration of biomass burning particles into the upper boundary layer. In the free troposphere the particle concentration and size measured during both campaigns were approximately the same.

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A LANDSAT MSS-Derived Fire History of Kakadu National Park, Monsoonal Northern Australial, 1980-94: Seasonal Extent, Frequency and Patchiness

Cited by 216 publications

References 24 publications

Ecological Implications of Fine-Scale Fire Patchiness and Severity in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

Ecological Implications of Fine-Scale Fire Patchiness and Severity in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

Trends in fire patterns in a southern African savanna under alternative land use practices

Convergence of Probability Measures

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