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

Price, Owen; Russell‐Smith, Jeremy; Watt, Felicity

doi:10.1071/wf10079

Cited by 78 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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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%

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%

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

et al. 2015

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“…Leverage varies according to the annual extent of wildfire, extent of fuel treatment and the rate at which fuel loads recover (Price 2012). Leverage has been analysed on individual burns (Loehle 2004) and across landscapes (Boer et al 2009;Price et al 2012;Price et al 2015a). In a bioregional analysis of south-eastern Australia, Price et al (2015b) found no evidence of leverage within the study area's bioregion for the period 1970-2010.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there an inherent conflict in managing fire for people and conservation?

Bentley

Penman

2017

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Abstract. Wildfires are a natural disturbance in many ecosystems, creating challenges for land management agencies who need to simultaneously reduce risk to people and maintain ecological values. Here we use the PHOENIX RapidFire fire behaviour simulator to compare fuel treatment strategies that meet the twin objectives of reducing wildfire risk to human settlements and a fire sensitive endangered species, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) in south-eastern Australia. The local koala population is in decline and a conservation management plan is being prepared to exclude wildfire for a 10-year period to assist with population recovery. Twelve scenarios developed by the land management agencies were compared using four indicators: wildfire size; burn probability; impact from exposure to fire; and treatment cost. Compared with the current risk setting, three treatment scenarios were found to reduce wildfire size and burn probability concurrently to both people and koalas. These strategies worked by increasing the landscape area treated, which came with increased financial cost. However, the impact from exposure to fire for both property and koala habitat remains high. Additional complementary strategies beyond landscape fuel reductions are needed to reduce impact from exposure in the event of a wildfire.

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“…Early dry-season PB succeeded in decreasing the annual burnt fraction of the landscape from 38 to 30 %, especially of late dry-season fires (29 to 12.5 %), as assessed from Landsat imagery for the period of 1990 to 2009, with a burn leverage of 0.9 [56], and cut carbon emissions by 38 % [10]. In the Arnhem Land (56,000 km 2 ), there is a 92 % probability of very large (110 to 2300 km 2 ) fires stopping at the edge of early dry-season fires [57].…”

Section: Landscape-to Regional-scale Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical Support for the Use of Prescribed Burning as a Fuel Treatment

Fernandes

2015

Curr Forestry Rep

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Prescribed burning as a fuel treatment seeks to moderate wildfire impacts and decreases the areal extent of wildfires by increasing the effectiveness of fire suppression. Assessment of prescribed burning effectiveness is frequently anecdotal or based on simulation. This paper examines recent observational evidence of prescribed fire effectiveness. The spread rate and intensity of experimental fires in distinct fuel types have been shown to increase with time since treatment (fuel age) following fuel structure recovery. Prescribed fire constrains the size and especially the severity of individual fires, even under extremely severe weather conditions. At larger spatial and temporal scales of analysis, the effect of fuel age on unplanned fire severity is also evident, whether it comes from wildfires entering treated areas or from wildfires in fuel-reduced areas resulting from earlier wildfire occurrences. The persistence of these effects is variable, depending on vegetation type and productivity. The long-term reduction in wildfire area brought about by prescribed fire can be difficult to ascertain. Substantial effort (annual treatment rates >5 % of the landscape) has been shown to effectively control the extent of wildfires in forests, with 3-4 units of prescribed burning needed to reduce wildfire by one unit. Future studies should consider the decrease in area burned by high-severity fire as a more meaningful and objective measure of prescribed fire effectiveness than the decrease in wildfire area and should strive to document fire behaviour in treated versus untreated areas during wildfires.

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

Cited by 78 publications

References 42 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

Is there an inherent conflict in managing fire for people and conservation?

Empirical Support for the Use of Prescribed Burning as a Fuel Treatment

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