The surge in global efforts to understand the causes and consequences of drought on forest ecosystems has tended to focus on specific impacts such as mortality. We propose an ecoclimatic framework that takes a broader view of the ecological relevance of water deficits, linking elements of exposure and resilience to cumulative impacts on a range of ecosystem processes. This ecoclimatic framework is underpinned by two hypotheses...

Existing theoretical frameworks suggest three predictions relevant to grazing effects in Australian aridlands: grazing has a negative but moderate effect on plant species richness; a separate “state” resulting from degradation caused by extreme grazing will be evident; some plant species will have a strong association with grazing relief refuges that have only ever been subject to light grazing. These predictions were examined...

Increasing densities of woody plants in savannas has been attributed to both elevated atmospheric CO 2 and reduced burning with grazing management, such that the biome could represent a substantial carbon sink. However, we show that extreme droughts (less than two‐thirds expected rainfall over 3 years) occur in the drier half of the savanna biome and can cause substantial tree death. An Australian case study reveals that a net...

Aim To address the hypothesis that there has been a substantial increase in woody vegetation cover (‘vegetation thickening’) during the 100 years after the burning practices of aboriginal hunter‐gatherers were abruptly replaced by the management activities associated with pastoralism in north‐east Australia. Location Three hundred and eighty‐three sites on 3000 km transect, inland Queensland, Australia. Methods Vegetation stru...

Aim This study documents the effects of multiple fires and drought on the woody structure of a north Australian savanna never grazed by domestic stock. Location The study was conducted in a 500 ha pocket of Eucalyptus ‐dominated savanna surrounded by a late Quaternary lava flow. The flow is known as the Great Basalt Wall, located c. 50 km northeast of Charters Towers in semi‐arid north‐eastern Australia. This region was expose...

The record of eighteenth and nineteenth century explorers' references to Aboriginal fire in Queensland was stratified according to fourteen vegetation typcs and season of fire. It was demonstrated that references to ‘current’ fire (i.e. flames or smoke) may not represent traditional Aboriginal activity and that many fires were lit to frighten or harm, to protect themselves from, or to signal to kinfolk the presence of the Euro...