Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WILDLAND FIRE
Volume 24, Issue 5, Pages 712-722Publisher
CSIRO PUBLISHING
DOI: 10.1071/WF14163
Keywords
Aboriginal burning; fire frequency; fire regime; habitat simplification; patch mosaic burning; predation; tropical savanna
Categories
Funding
- Australian Research Council [DE130100434, LP100100033]
- Hermon Slade Foundation
- Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis (ACEAS)
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)
- Australian Government through National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and the Super Science Initiative
- Parks Australia, Northern Territory Government
- Tropical Savannas Cooperative Research Centre
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Small mammal (<2kg) numbers have declined dramatically in northern Australia in recent decades. Fire regimes, characterised by frequent, extensive, late-season wildfires, are implicated in this decline. Here, we compare the effect of fire extent, in conjunction with fire frequency, season and spatial heterogeneity (patchiness) of the burnt area, on mammal declines in Kakadu National Park over a recent decadal period. Fire extent - an index incorporating fire size and fire frequency - was the best predictor of mammal declines, and was superior to the proportion of the surrounding area burnt and fire patchiness. Point-based fire frequency, a commonly used index for characterising fire effects, was a weak predictor of declines. Small-scale burns affected small mammals least of all. Crucially, the most important aspects of fire regimes that are associated with declines are spatial ones; extensive fires (at scales larger than the home ranges of small mammals) are the most detrimental, indicating that small mammals may not easily escape the effects of large and less patchy fires. Notwithstanding considerable management effort, the current fire regime in this large conservation reserve is detrimental to the native mammal fauna, and more targeted management is required to reduce fire size.
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