Journal article
Resilience of a eucalypt forest woody understorey to long-term (34–55 years) repeated burning in subtropical Australia
International Journal of Wildland Fire, Vol.21(8), pp.980-991
2012
Abstract
We investigated the effects of annual burning since 1952, triennial burning since 1973, fire exclusion since 1946 and infrequent wildfire (one fire in 61 years) on woody understorey vegetation in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest, south-eastern Queensland, Australia. We determined the influence of these treatments, and other site variables (rainfall, understorey density, topsoil C : N ratio, tree basal area, distance to watercourse and burn coverage) on plant taxa density, richness and composition. The richness of woody understorey taxa 0-1 m in height was not affected by burning treatments, but richness of woody plants 1-7.5 m in height was lower in the annually burnt treatment than in the triennially burnt treatment from 1989 to 2007. Fire frequency and other site variables explained 34% of the variation in taxa composition (three taxon groups and 10 species), of which 33% of the explained variance was explained by fire treatment and 46% was explained by other site variables. Annual burning between 1974 and 1993 was associated with lower understorey densities mainly due to reduced densities of eucalypts 1-7.5 m in height. Triennial burning during the same period was associated with higher densities of eucalypts 0-7.5 m in height relative to the annually burnt and unburnt treatments. Most woody taxa persisted in the frequently burnt treatments through resprouting mechanisms (e.g. lignotuberous regeneration), and fire patchiness associated with low-intensity burning was also found to be important. Persistence of plants less than 1 m tall demonstrates the resilience of woody taxa to repeated burning in this ecosystem, although they mainly exist in a suppressed growth state under annual burning.
Details
- Title
- Resilience of a eucalypt forest woody understorey to long-term (34–55 years) repeated burning in subtropical Australia
- Authors
- Tom Lewis (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringValerie Debuse (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
- Publication details
- International Journal of Wildland Fire, Vol.21(8), pp.980-991
- Publisher
- C S I R O Publishing
- Date published
- 2012
- DOI
- 10.1071/WF11003
- ISSN
- 1049-8001
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450247902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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