Fire regimes and the conservation of sandstone heath in monsoonal northern Australia: frequency, interval, patchiness

The influence of prescribed fire on the extent of wildfire in savanna landscapes of western Arnhem Land, Australia

“…The depopulation of indigenous land managers from across the northern savannas by the early-to mid-20 th Century resulted in a marked shift in fire regime from one dominated by the extensive application of small early dry season fires, to one where most of the annual fire area is due to large, relatively intense wildfires in the late dry season (Bowman 1998;Russell-Smith, Yates et al 2003). This has had negative consequences for biodiversity in general (Franklin 1999;Trainor and Woinarski 1994;Woinarski, Milne et al 2001), and particularly for obligate seeding plant species (Bowman, Price et al 2001;Bowman and Panton 1993;Liddle and Gibbons 2006;Russell-Smith, Ryan et al 2001).…”

The Nature of Northern Australia: its natural values, ecological processes and future prospects

“…The problem for the northern heathlands is that the current fire regime tends to be frequent and extensive, and now does not reliably allow them the sequences of 4+ years of fire-free intervals to persist (Russell- Smith et al 1998Smith et al , 2002Russell-Smith 2006). At sites where the fires recur at shorter intervals than this, populations of these plants will be locally eliminated.…”

Carbon accounting, land management, science and policy uncertainty in Australian savanna landscapes: introduction and overview

“…For example, the current regime of frequent, intense and extensive fires across the savannas, especially the mesic savannas, is contributing to the decline of a broad range of plant and animal species (e.g. Franklin 1999;Bowman et al 2001;Woinarski et al 2001;Russell-Smith et al 2002;Woinarski and Fisher 2003), and appropriate conservation management of these resources requires reduction in fire extent and frequency.…”