Indigenous Fire-Managed Landscapes in Southeast Australia during the Holocene—New Insights from the Furneaux Group Islands, Bass Strait

Abstract

Indigenous land use and climate have shaped fire regimes in southeast Australia during the Holocene, although their relative influence remains unclear. The archaeologically attested mid-Holocene decline in land-use intensity on the Furneaux Group islands (FGI) relative to mainland Tasmanian and SE Australia presents a natural experiment to identify the roles of climate and anthropogenic land use. We reconstruct two key facets of regional fire regimes, biomass (vegetation) burned (BB) and recurrence rate of fire episodes (RRFE), by using total charcoal influx and charcoal peaks in palaeoecological records, respectively. Our results suggest climate-driven biomass accumulation and dryness-controlled BB across southeast Australia during the Holocene. Insights from the FGI suggest people elevated the recurrence rate of fire episodes through frequent cultural burning during the early Holocene and reduction in recurrent Indigenous cultural burning during the mid–late Holocene led to increases in BB. These results provide long-term evidence of the effectiveness of Indigenous cultural burning in reducing biomass burned and may be effective in stabilizing fire regimes in flammable landscapes in the future.

Synthesis of FePP@MoS2@Ni‐MOF composites for improving thermal and flame retardant safety properties of polyurea

“…The Fire Growth Index (FGI) serves to categorize the progression of a fire into various types, distinguishing between fast and slow development, as well as different phases such as the fire initiation phase, full fire development phase, and fire extinction phase. [42][43][44] By analyzing the FGI across different composite materials, we can make more informed assessments regarding their suitability for specific applications. Furthermore, the Fire Performance Index (FPI) can be utilized as a measure of fire development, particularly as an indicator for safe evacuation in enclosed spaces.…”

More than dirt: sedimentary ancient DNA and Indigenous Australia

“…Ecological management practices that utilise fire are integrated in many cultures around the world, including Aboriginal Australians (Coughland & Petty, 2012). Also referred to as cultural burning, the fire-based ecological practices of Abo-riginal peoples go as far back as the early Holocene (Matthew A Adeleye, Haberle, Connor, Stevenson, & Bowman, 2021) and have had clear ecological impacts on animal and plant populations (Matthew Adesanya Adeleye, Haberle, Ondei, & Bowman, 2022;Bowman, 1998). Associating ecological communities identified by sedaDNA in stratigraphic horizons with the concentration of charcoal in the sediment can elucidate the effects of fire on the local environment.…”

European colonization and the emergence of novel fire regimes in southeast Australia

“…Overall, the role of Indigenous people in maintaining diverse and interconnected ecosystems and landscapes appears to have been dismissed or even deliberately suppressed since European colonization (Fletcher et al, 2021;Gammage, 2012). The disruption of Indigenous burning practices has not only elevated the present-day risk of catastrophic fires in southeast Australia but has also led to changes in biodiversity maintained by Indigenous skilful burning for many millennia (Adeleye et al, 2021a(Adeleye et al, , 2021bBowman, 1998;Bowman et al, 2011). While climate-change risks remain the primary global challenge for fire mitigation, local-scale management targetted at restoring pre-colonial fire regimes will likely help reduce present fuel connectivity, thus altering fire behaviour and diminishing the potential for widespread wildfires in SEAM forests and woodlands.…”