Effects of High Frequency Fire on Floristic Composition and Abundance in a Fire-prone Heathland near Sydney

Bradstock, Ross A.; Tozer, Mark G.; Keith, David A.

doi:10.1071/bt96083

Cited by 119 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The remaining variation (21%) represented confounding effects of the environmental predictors and fire treatments, which were largely due to burn coverage variation among treatments. Our findings support those from similar forests elsewhere, that both site factors, irrespective of fire history (Bradstock et al 1997;Henderson and Keith 2002;Lewis et al 2012) and fire frequency have an important influence on plant composition (Henderson and Keith 2002;Spencer and Baxter 2006;Watson et al 2009;Penman et al 2011b;Wittkuhn et al 2011). Our results suggest that species such as Alphitonia excelsa, Lantana camara, Cyclophyllum coprosmoides and Psydrax odorata are more likely to proliferate in long-unburnt areas than in frequently burnt forests.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…The triennial burning treatment was more beneficial than the other two treatments for long-term persistence of acacias in this forest type. However, managers should consider less frequent fire regimes to encourage smaller obligate seed regenerators that may be completely scorched by fire and may require .3 years to germinate from seed and produce fruit before the next fire (Keith 1996;Bradstock et al 1997;Bradstock and Kenny 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, long-term (34-55 years) repeated burning is expected to change the composition and density of non-herbaceous plants in the understorey, resulting in a simplification of vegetation structure (Spencer and Baxter 2006;Fairfax et al 2009). Temporal changes in woody plant communities will also be affected by fluctuations in environmental factors other than fire (Bradstock et al 1997;Sharp and Bowman 2004;Fensham et al 2005), such that it is important to consider the effects of other environmental influences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience of a eucalypt forest woody understorey to long-term (34 - 55 years) repeated burning in subtropical Australia

Lewis

Debuse

2012

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Abstract. We investigated the effects of annual burning since 1952, triennial burning since 1973, fire exclusion since 1946 and infrequent wildfire (one fire in 61 years) on woody understorey vegetation in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest, south-eastern Queensland, Australia. We determined the influence of these treatments, and other site variables (rainfall, understorey density, topsoil C : N ratio, tree basal area, distance to watercourse and burn coverage) on plant taxa density, richness and composition. The richness of woody understorey taxa 0-1 m in height was not affected by burning treatments, but richness of woody plants 1-7.5 m in height was lower in the annually burnt treatment than in the triennially burnt treatment from 1989 to 2007. Fire frequency and other site variables explained 34% of the variation in taxa composition (three taxon groups and 10 species), of which 33% of the explained variance was explained by fire treatment and 46% was explained by other site variables. Annual burning between 1974 and 1993 was associated with lower understorey densities mainly due to reduced densities of eucalypts 1-7.5 m in height. Triennial burning during the same period was associated with higher densities of eucalypts 0-7.5 m in height relative to the annually burnt and unburnt treatments. Most woody taxa persisted in the frequently burnt treatments through resprouting mechanisms (e.g. lignotuberous regeneration), and fire patchiness associated with low-intensity burning was also found to be important. Persistence of plants ,1 m tall demonstrates the resilience of woody taxa to repeated burning in this ecosystem, although they mainly exist in a suppressed growth state under annual burning.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience of a eucalypt forest woody understorey to long-term (34 - 55 years) repeated burning in subtropical Australia

Lewis

Debuse

2012

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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“…Some heaths on nutrient-poor shallow soils with high exposure to salt spray, such as those on the peak of Dover Island in Bass Strait, may need no fire to persist (Kirkpatrick 1995), while other heathlands clearly do. It is unwise to burn most Australian heaths at an interval of less than 8-10 years because of the potential loss of obligate seed regenerators (Bradstock and Myerscough 1981;Bradstock et al 1997;Gill and Stephens 2009), however, our results strongly suggest that too frequent fire is currently not a problem, and that more frequent planned burning should be undertaken in the coastal heathlands of south-eastern Tasmania. Furthermore, since different populations of the same species can vary in their capacity to resprout or regenerate from seed after fire, it may be more useful to consider the fire response at a population level, rather than considering species response traits individually (Vivian et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Transition from heathland to scrub in south-eastern Tasmania: extent of change since the 1970s, floristic depletion and management implications

Bargmann

Kirkpatrick

2014

Biodivers Conserv

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Heathland is a speciose and floriferous vegetation type, defined by its stature (\2 m) and dominance by scleromorphic shrubs. Heathland has been in decline globally, and much of its loss has been due to less frequent fire, while in some places more frequent fire has resulted in degradation through the loss of obligate seeding species. The aims of the present study were to determine: (1) the extent of the transition from heathland to scrub in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia between c1976 and 2013; (2) the spatial attributes of heathland that are likely to have been the most instrumental in heathland loss; (3) whether the transition to scrub resulted in the loss of local species richness and changed species composition when taking both above ground vegetation and the soil seed bank into account; and (4) the implications of the answers to the first three questions for heathland management. Changes in heathland and scrub extent were mapped from remote sensing imagery and ground truthing. At one locality with floristic data from the heathland of 1976, the scrub that has replaced the heathland was surveyed and soil collected to determine seed banks under heating and non-heating treatments. Approximately one third of the 1976 heathland had become scrub by 2013, mostly around the margins of heathland patches and near built up areas. Twenty-two species present in 1976 were not found in either the scrub or seed bank, with only three species absent from the scrub, but present in the 1976 heath, being found in the seed bank. The species composition of germinates in the unheated treatment was dominated by taxa that colonise mechanically disturbed areas, such as Juncus, while germinates in the heat treated soils were largely scleromorphic heath species. The depletion of species richness by the transition to scrub, and the large extent of its 123Biodivers Conserv (2015) 24:213-228 DOI 10.1007 incidence, suggest that a higher frequency of planned fire is needed in south-eastern Tasmania.

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“…Several authors (Bradstock et al, 1997;Pausas, 1999) showed that recurrent fires favoured seeders only if the fire interval enabled plant maturation and production of seeds. Some Pinus trees were present above the shrublands in one plot and in mixed stands.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuel characterization and effects of wildfire recurrence on vegetation structure on limestone soils in southeastern France

Ganteaume¹,

Jappiot²,

Lampin-Maillet³

et al. 2009

Forest Ecology and Management

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Recurrent fires are more frequent in the Mediterranean basin due to global climate change.The effects of fire recurrence (up to more than three recurrent fires with an interval since the last fire of more or less than fifteen years) on the structure of fuel beds were studied at stand level in southeastern France. Three types of vegetation that are among the most common in the study area (pure pine stands, oak-pine mixed stands and shrublands) were studied to determine the role of fire recurrence on biodiversity. Fuel bed description was carried out on aboveground vegetation at understorey and overstorey levels, and on litter in 39 homogeneous study sites. The structure of the understorey was categorized following a gradient of fragmentation including: (i) isolated shrubs, (ii) vegetation patches made up of a single species and (iii) homogeneous vegetation layers including different species of the same height.The decrease of time interval since the last fire caused an opening of the canopy, except for the lowest vegetation stratum (grasses and low shrubs) that did not vary significantly. There was no significant change in horizontal connectivity between fuel beds (% of layer cover) as a function of the fire regime or the type of vegetation. Conversely, the vertical connectivity (% of tree cover, height of the trees and of the layer) was affected by the fire regime, especially in pure pine stands. Fire regime also influenced the litter layer and litter depth decreased with an increase in the opening of the stand that could be due to fire. These results show that fire risk is greater in the oldest stands (long interval since the last fire).

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Effects of High Frequency Fire on Floristic Composition and Abundance in a Fire-prone Heathland near Sydney

Cited by 119 publications

References 18 publications

Resilience of a eucalypt forest woody understorey to long-term (34 - 55 years) repeated burning in subtropical Australia

Resilience of a eucalypt forest woody understorey to long-term (34 - 55 years) repeated burning in subtropical Australia

Transition from heathland to scrub in south-eastern Tasmania: extent of change since the 1970s, floristic depletion and management implications

Fuel characterization and effects of wildfire recurrence on vegetation structure on limestone soils in southeastern France

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