David J. Prior results 29
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Landscape fire is a key but poorly understood component of the global carbon cycle. Predicting biomass consumption by fire at large spatial scales is essential to understanding carbon dynamics and hence how fire management can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase ecosystem carbon storage. An Australia‐wide field‐based survey (at 113 locations) across large‐scale macroecological gradients (climate, productivity and fire...
Does inherent flammability of grass and litter fuels contribute to continental patterns of landscape fire activity?NARA Subscribed
Aims To (1) identify the trade‐offs among flammability attributes within grass and litter fuel types; (2) determine how flammability attributes of grass and litter fuels vary across macro‐ecological gradients; and (3) test our hypothesis that inherent flammability attributes of grass and litter fuels scale to satellite‐derived proxies for fire frequency and intensity. Location Continent of Australia. Methods Samples of litter...
The relative importance of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the decline of obligate seeder forestsNARA Subscribed
Forests that regenerate exclusively from seed following high‐severity fire are particularly vulnerable to local extinction if fire frequency leaves insufficient time for regenerating plants to reach sexual maturity. We evaluate the relative importance of extrinsic (such as fire weather and climate cycles) and intrinsic (such as proneness to fire due to stand age and structural development) factors in driving the decline of obl...
Aims Understanding how tree growth is influenced by climate is vital for predicting how forests will respond to climate change, yet there have been few studies of tree growth spanning macroclimatic gradients. The aim of this study is to correlate growth of a single lineage of broadleaf evergreen trees with continental‐scale variability in climate. Location A ustralia's temperate mesic eucalypt forests, spanning latitudes from...
Abrupt fire regime change may cause landscape‐wide loss of mature obligate seeder forestsNARA Subscribed
Obligate seeder trees requiring high‐severity fires to regenerate may be vulnerable to population collapse if fire frequency increases abruptly. We tested this proposition using a long‐lived obligate seeding forest tree, alpine ash ( Eucalyptus delegatensis ), in the Australian Alps. Since 2002, 85% of the Alps bioregion has been burnt by several very large fires, tracking the regional trend of more frequent extreme fire weath...
Using generalized autoregressive error models to understand fire–vegetation–soil feedbacks in a mulga–spinifex landscape mosaicNARA Subscribed
Aim To develop a new modelling approach for spatially autocorrelated non‐normal data, and apply it to a case study of the role that fire–vegetation–soil feedbacks play in maintaining boundaries between fire‐sensitive and fire‐promoted plant communities. Location A mulga ( Acacia aneura ) shrubland–spinifex ( Triodia spp.) grassland mosaic, central Australia. Methods Autoregressive error models were extended to non‐normal data...
The statistical analysis of Bowman et al. ( Journal of Biogeography , 2008, 35 , 1976–1988) revealed the weak relationship between the rate of woody cover encroachment onto the freshwater floodplains in the central section of Kakadu National Park (KNP) over a 40‐year period and estimates of proximate water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis ) density. The analysis relied on detailed mapping of buffalo tracks, the best historical record...