Flammable Australia

by Bradstock, Ross A.; Gill, A. Malcolm; Williams, Richard J.

• ISBN13: 9780643104822
• ISBN10: 0643104828
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-07-01
• Publisher: Csiro

Summary

In Flammable Australia: Fire Regimes, Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing World, leading researchers in fire ecology and management discuss how fire regimes have shaped and will continue to shape the distribution and abundance of Australia's highly diverse plants and animals. Central to this is the exploration of the concept of the fire regime the cumulative pattern of fires and their individual characteristics (fire type, frequency, intensity season) and how variation in regime components affects landscapes and their constituent biota. Contributions by 44 authors explore a wide range of topics including classical themes such as pre-history and evolution, fire behavior, fire regimes in key biomes, plant and animal life cycles, remote sensing and modeling of fire regimes, and emerging issues such as climate change and fire regimes and carbon dynamics. In the face of significant global change, the conservation of native species and ecosystems requires an understanding of the processes at play when fires and landscapes interact. KEY FEATURES * High quality line-up of authors * The market transcends academia and policy makers * Comprehensive treatment of this complex science

Table of Contents

Preface	p. v
List of reviewers	p. vi
List of contributors	p. vii
Evolution and prehistory
The prehistory of fire in Australasia	p. 3
Fire regimes and the evolution of the Australian biota	p. 27
Processes	p. 49
Fuel, fire weather and fire behaviour in Australian ecosystems	p. 51
Measuring and monitoring of contemporary fire regimes in Australia using satellite remote sensing	p. 79
Functional traits: their roles in understanding and predicting biotic responses to fire regimes from individuals to landscapes	p. 97
Fire regimes and soil-based ecological processes: implications for biodiversity	p. 127
Global change and fire regimes in Australia	p. 149
Ecosystems	p. 171
Fire regimes in Australian tropical savanna: perspectives, paradigms and paradoxes	p. 173
Fire regimes in arid hummock grasslands and Acacia shrublands	p. 195
Fire regimes in Australian sclerophyllous shrubby ecosystems: heathlands, heathy woodlands and mallee woodlands	p. 215
Bushfires and biodiversity in southern Australian forests	p. 235
How do fire regimes affect ecosystem structure, function and diversity in grasslands and grassy woodlands of southern Australia?	p. 253
New challenges	p. 271
Fire regimes and carbon in Australian vegetation	p. 273
A revolution in northern Australian fire management: recognition of Indigenous knowledge, practice and management	p. 293
Future fire regimes of Australian ecosystems: new perspectives on enduring questions of management	p. 307
Index	p. 325
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