The impact of fire on sand dune stability: Surface coverage and biomass recovery after fires on Western Australian coastal dune systems from 1988 to 2016

Shumack, Samuel; Hesse, Paul; Turner, Liam D.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.10.001

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Fire is rarely suggested as a mechanism responsible for blowout activation as the fires generally will not entirely remove vegetation, and the burnt trees/shrubs can still protect the sand surface from wind exposure (Shumack and Hesse, 2018; Shumack et al, 2017). The vegetation surrounding the Carlo Blowout, however, is dense sclerophyll woodland dominated by Eucalyptus and Corymbia , which can produce large, very intense fires because of forest structure and high amounts of biomass (fuel load) (Price and Gordon, 2016; Prior et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late-Holocene cliff-top blowout activation and evolution in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland, Australia

et al. 2018

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Cliff-top dunes are a locally important geomorphic features of sedimentary coasts. They are traditionally interpreted as being sourced by (or with) sand derived from the beach below the cliff. This paper presents the results of a stratigraphic and geochronological study of Carlo Sand Blow, a coastal blowout that has developed on top of a high sandy cliff in the Cooloola Sand Mass, southeast Queensland. We use a combination of sedimentological, pedological and geophysical techniques along with optically stimulated luminescence dating to determine the depositional history and evolution of the blowout. We demonstrate that the blowout is dominantly nourished by sand eroded from its floor rather than the adjacent beach. The original dune surface dates to the first half of the last glacial period (c. 40-70 ka) and this dune was deflated in the late-Holocene. Dune activity is directly associated with cliff undercutting because of coastal retreat in the late-Holocene, but coastal erosion on its own is not capable of maintaining aeolian activity. Blowout activity occurred between 2.6 and 2.3 ka and again at 0.3 ka with aeolian sand burying palaeosols. Both soil surfaces contained charcoal and tree stumps in growth position and our study suggests that fire is the immediate trigger for blowout reactivation. It is likely that these fires were anthropogenic in origin, because the site is somewhat protected from natural fire and the ages coincide with intensification of human use of coastal sites in the area.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies by Shumack et al (2017) and Shumack and Hesse (2018) that investigated the effect of fire on the destabilisation of coastal dunes found that in Western Australia, fire alone does not lead to dune destabilisation. They do, however, suggest that fires will increase the susceptibility of a sand body to other disturbances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late-Holocene cliff-top blowout activation and evolution in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland, Australia

et al. 2018

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“…Drought is another cause of reduced vegetation cover, but subsequent dune activation has not been observed (Forman et al, 2006;Siegal et al, 2013;Hesse et al, 2017). Fire can also reduce vegetation cover (Strong et al, 2010;Levin et al, 2012), though it may not be sufficient to activate dunes as the recovery of the vegetation can be rapid (Shumack et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The response of vegetation cover and dune activity to rainfall, drought and fire observed by multitemporal satellite imagery

Fisher

Hesse

2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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The stable longitudinal dunes in the northern Simpson Desert, Australia, were observed in satellite imagery to become more active after vegetation cover was reduced by fire and drought. Subsequent rainfall events also resulted in significant vegetation regrowth and dune stabilization. These switches between more active and stable conditions have not been previously described in the largely vegetated dune fields of central Australia. The observations, made on 12 dune sites, relied on high spatial resolution satellite imagery to observe dune crest activity, and seasonal Landsat fractional cover imagery to observe vegetation cover changes. The non‐photosynthetic vegetation (NPV) component of the fractional vegetation cover images revealed significant changes in hummock grass cover on the dunes between 1988 and 2018, with a positive relationship with the three‐year cumulative rainfall, disrupted by two periods of patchy burning. Only those sites that had burnt became active, and only after vegetation cover had remained low (NPV < 16%) during the ‘Millennium Drought’. There is no threshold in vegetation cover, below which dune crests become active, but active dune features require four‐years of low NPV cover (< 16%) to develop. The large rainfall event that ended the drought increased NPV cover, stabilizing the dunes. Similar hummock grass covered dunes are present across large areas of the arid zone, and are likely to respond in similar ways, given that fire and drought are common occurrences in Australia. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…For example, change detection was implemented in Western Australia to determine the influence of fire on sand dune reactivation from 1988 to 2016 (Shumack et al. ). Multi‐temporal analysis of burn scar area and sand abundance determined that while fire increased potential vulnerability to dune destabilization within the study region, it was not the primary driver (Shumack et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multi‐temporal analysis of burn scar area and sand abundance determined that while fire increased potential vulnerability to dune destabilization within the study region, it was not the primary driver (Shumack et al. ). Medium‐resolution optical data are also useful in the monitoring of active dune systems where the primary threat is sand encroachment on peripheral land use, rather than the loss of biodiversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring the coastal zone using earth observation: application of linear spectral unmixing to coastal dune systems in Wales

Ettritch

Bunting

Jones

et al. 2018

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Coastal sand dune systems across temperate Europe are presently characterized by a high level of ecological stabilization and a subsequent loss of biological diversity. The use of continuous monitoring within these systems is vital to the preservation of species richness, particularly with regard to the persistence of early stage pioneer species dependent on a strong sediment supply. Linear spectral unmixing was applied to archived Landsat data and historical aerial photography for monitoring bare sand (BS) cover dynamics as a proxy for ecological dune stabilization. Using this approach, a time series of change was calculated for Kenfig Burrows, a 6-km 2 stabilized dune system in South Wales, during 1941-2014. The time series indicated that a rapid level of stabilization had occurred within the study area over a period of 75 years. Accuracy assessment of the data indicated the suitability of medium-resolution imagery with an RMSE of <10% across all images and a difference of <3% between observed and predicted BS area. Temporal resolution was found to be a significant factor in the representation of BS cover with fluctuations occurring on a sub-decadal scale, outside of the margin of error introduced through the use of medium-resolution Landsat imagery. This study demonstrates a tractable approach for mapping and monitoring ecologically sensitive regions at a subLandsat pixel level.

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The impact of fire on sand dune stability: Surface coverage and biomass recovery after fires on Western Australian coastal dune systems from 1988 to 2016

Cited by 14 publications

References 60 publications

Late-Holocene cliff-top blowout activation and evolution in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland, Australia

Late-Holocene cliff-top blowout activation and evolution in the Cooloola Sand Mass, south-east Queensland, Australia

The response of vegetation cover and dune activity to rainfall, drought and fire observed by multitemporal satellite imagery

Monitoring the coastal zone using earth observation: application of linear spectral unmixing to coastal dune systems in Wales

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