Wildfire risk management across diverse bioregions in a changing climate

Campbell, Tristan; Bradshaw, Don; Dixon, Kingsley W.; Zylstra, Philip

doi:10.1080/19475705.2022.2119891

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Here, approximately 15% of all plant species are pollinated by vertebrates (Brown et al, 1997; Keighery, 1980) with insects also providing key pollination services (i.e., Lunau et al, 2021; Menz et al, 2013). As with elsewhere in the world, pollinators of native species in the SWAFR are experiencing declines in abundance, geographic range, and genetic connectivity due to habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change and associated increase in fire frequency (Bezemer et al, 2019; Campbell et al, 2022; Phillips et al, 2010; Prendergast, 2022). Due to the pace of decline in pollinators (Potts et al, 2010) there is a need to develop fast and accurate methods to detect animal visitors to flowers which, until now, relied on time‐intensive field observation by specialists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring the birds and the bees: Environmental DNA metabarcoding of flowers detects plant–animal interactions

et al. 2023

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Animal pollinators are vital for the reproduction of ~90% of flowering plants. However, many of these pollinating species are experiencing declines globally, making effective pollinator monitoring methods more important than ever before. Pollinators can leave DNA on the flowers they visit, and metabarcoding of these environmental DNA (eDNA) traces provides an opportunity to detect the presence of flower visitors. Our study, collecting flowers from seven plant species with diverse floral morphologies, for eDNA metabarcoding analysis, illustrated the value of this novel survey tool. eDNA metabarcoding using three assays, including one developed in this study to target common bush birds, recorded more animal species visiting flowers than visual surveys conducted concurrently, including birds, bees, and other species. We also recorded the presence of a flower visit from a western pygmy possum; to our knowledge this is the first eDNA metabarcoding study to simultaneously identify the interaction of insect, mammal, and bird species with flowers. The highest diversity of taxa was detected on large inflorescence flower types found on Banksia arborea and Grevillea georgeana. The study demonstrates that the ease of sample collection and the robustness of the metabarcoding methodology has profound implications for future management of biodiversity, allowing us to monitor both plants and their attendant cohort of potential pollinators. This opens avenues for rapid and efficient comparison of biodiversity and ecosystem health between different sites and may provide insights into surrogate pollinators in the event of pollinator declines.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring the birds and the bees: Environmental DNA metabarcoding of flowers detects plant–animal interactions

et al. 2023

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“…Consistent with this, Departmental records for national parks in the region indicate that bushfires have been more than seven times as likely in forests regrowing from prescribed burns than in older forests with self‐thinned understoreys (Zylstra et al, 2022). Replication of the main study underpinning burning in the area also showed a highly significant increase rather than a decrease in wildfire risk as prescribed burning rates increased in the Perth Bioregion where this study was located (Campbell et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Quantifying the direct fire threat to a critically endangered arboreal marsupial using biophysical, mechanistic modelling

Zylstra

2022

Austral Ecology

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Historically unprecedented areas of forest habitat have been impacted by fire, as climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances drive increases in fire burned area and severity. Although 88% of Australia's [threatened] land mammals are threatened by inappropriate fire regimes, calculations of animal mortality resulting from specific events have been impeded by knowledge gaps relating to both the direct (first-order) and long-term (second-order) effects of fire on different species. This study addresses the need for a quantified, mechanistic understanding of first-order effects, presenting an extension of the Fire Research and Modelling Environment (FRaME) to allow prediction of species-specific mortality. FRaME is demonstrated and tested here by replicating an incident in which a prescribed burn caused 77% mortality of a population of the critically endangered ngwayir (Pseudocheirus occidentalis, Pseudocheiridae). FRaME correctly predicted heavy mortality (62-79%) arising from partial and full-thickness burns and asphyxiation due to burns in the respiratory tract. Mortality varied with animal fire-avoidance strategies (p < 0.001) and the thickness of tree hollow walls (r = −0.95, p < 0.001). Although management guidelines specified low intensity fire, mortality had no significant relationship with Byram intensity and larger flames due to 'torching' were most frequent when fire spread was slowest. FRaME modelling predicted that individuals would be impacted by temperatures exceeding 500°C for several minutes. Fire management that is premised on discredited notions of fire behaviour and overly simple models can lead to catastrophic management outcomes such as those documented here. FRaME addresses this need by providing a platform to account for heterogeneous fire behaviour as well as animal behaviour and habitat quality, calculating fire risk to fauna and guiding management that maximizes safe habitat.

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“…This may be because the loss of hollow-bearing trees in mixed-species Eucalyptus forest is often associated with excavation of a cavity at the base of the tree, which can occur from a fire burning at low severity. Further, planned fires do not exclude subsequent wildfires, particularly in severe fire weather (Price 2012;Campbell et al 2022), and thus frequent planned fires could exacerbate the effects of an increasing fire frequency. We therefore suggest that maintaining hollow-bearing trees using planned fires should only be implemented experimentally and monitored as part of a program of active adaptive management before it is adopted widely.…”

Section: Making Forests More Resilient To Changing Fire Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of changing fire regimes on hollow-bearing trees in south-eastern Australia

Gibbons,

Stojanovic,

Lindenmayer

et al. 2024

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Background Many species use hollows or cavities that form in trees. The effect of an increasing fire frequency on hollow-bearing trees is unclear. Aims To predict the effects of increasing fire frequency on the abundance of hollow-bearing trees and identify how to make forests more resilient to these changes. Methods We simulated how increasing fire frequency will affect the abundance of hollow-bearing trees in forests of south-eastern Australia and conducted a sensitivity analysis to identify which variables affect these predictions. Key results Other things being equal, we found a negative relationship between the number of hollow-bearing trees and increasing fire frequency. However, we identified scenarios where the number of hollow-bearing trees remained stable, or increased, with frequent fires. Conclusions Hollow-bearing trees will decline where frequent fires co-occur with high rates at which trees collapse (or are removed) and/or where there are not a sufficient number of suitable mature trees in which new hollows can be excavated by fire. Implications The impact of increasing fire frequency on hollow-dependent fauna is likely to be greatest in forests where regeneration is inhibited, a large number of trees are removed before they form hollows, and/or where rates of collapse among trees is elevated.

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Wildfire risk management across diverse bioregions in a changing climate

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

Monitoring the birds and the bees: Environmental DNA metabarcoding of flowers detects plant–animal interactions

Monitoring the birds and the bees: Environmental DNA metabarcoding of flowers detects plant–animal interactions

Quantifying the direct fire threat to a critically endangered arboreal marsupial using biophysical, mechanistic modelling

Impacts of changing fire regimes on hollow-bearing trees in south-eastern Australia

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