All Title Author
Keywords Abstract

Publish in OALib Journal
ISSN: 2333-9721
APC: Only $99

ViewsDownloads

Relative Articles

More...

Harvesting as an Alternative to Burning for Managing Spinifex Grasslands in Australia

DOI: 10.1155/2014/430431

Full-Text   Cite this paper   Add to My Lib

Abstract:

Sustainable harvesting of grasslands can buffer large scale wildfires and the harvested biomass can be used for various products. Spinifex (Triodia spp.) grasslands cover ≈30% of the Australian continent and form the dominant vegetation in the driest regions. Harvesting near settlements is being considered as a means to reduce the occurrence and intensity of wildfires and to source biomaterials for sustainable desert living. However, it is unknown if harvesting spinifex grasslands can be done sustainably without loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function. We examined the trajectory of plant regeneration of burned and harvested spinifex grassland, floristic diversity, nutrient concentrations in soil and plants, and seed germination in controlled ex situ conditions. After two to three years of burning or harvesting in dry or wet seasons, species richness, diversity, and concentrations of most nutrients in soil and leaves of regenerating spinifex plants were overall similar in burned and harvested plots. Germination tests showed that 20% of species require fire-related cues to trigger germination, indicating that fire is essential for the regeneration of some species. Further experimentation should evaluate these findings and explore if harvesting and intervention, such as sowing of fire-cued seeds, allow sustainable, localised harvesting of spinifex grasslands. 1. Introduction The evergreen C4 hummock grass genus Triodia (“spinifex”) forms the dominant vegetation in Australia’s arid and semiarid regions, covering nearly one-third of the continent [1]. Fire is a natural disturbance in spinifex grasslands that recycles nutrients and maintains biodiversity and plant community structure [1, 2]. Postfire native ephemeral grasses and forbs proliferate within few months but are gradually replaced by spinifex and a low cover of woody species [3, 4]. While the effects of fire in spinifex grasslands are well known, it is unclear whether it is the removal of the dominant vegetation (spinifex) or the fire cues that trigger the seed germination that maintains plant biodiversity in these ecosystems. We examined this by comparing harvested and burned spinifex plots near settlements in north-west Queensland. If fire is not essential for maintaining plant diversity, localised harvesting could be an alternative to fire in managing spinifex grasslands. Harvested areas could act as fire breaks and plant biomass could be used as feed stock for green products [5]. Indigenous Australians have long burned and locally harvested spinifex grasslands for the purpose of hunting and

References

[1]  G. E. Allan and R. I. Southgate, “Fire regimes in the Spinifex landscapes of Australia,” in Flammable Australia: The Fire Regimes and Biodiversity of a Continent, R. A. Bradstock, J. E. Williams, and M. A. Gill, Eds., pp. 145–176, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2002.
[2]  J. S. Beard, “The vegetation of the Australian arid zone,” in Arid Australia, H. G. Cogger and E. E. Cameron, Eds., pp. 113–117, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia, 1984.
[3]  G. F. Griffin, “Will it burn—should it burn? Management of the Spinifex grasslands of inland Australia,” in Desertified Grasslands, G. P. Chapman, Ed., pp. 63–76, Academic Press, London, UK, 1990.
[4]  B. R. Wright and P. J. Clarke, “Fire regime (recency, interval and season) changes the composition of spinifex (Triodia spp.)-dominated desert dunes,” Australian Journal of Botany, vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 709–724, 2007.
[5]  H. K. Gamage, S. Mondal, L. A. Wallis et al., “Indigenous and modern biomaterials derived from Triodia (“spinifex”) grasslands in Australia,” Australian Journal of Botany, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 114–127, 2012.
[6]  P. Memmott and C. Go-Sam, “Spinifex houses of the western desert,” in Gunyah Goondie and Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia, P. Memmott, Ed., pp. 208–231, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Australia, 2007.
[7]  H. T. Pitman and L. A. Wallis, “The point of spinifex: aboriginal uses of spinifex grasses in Australia,” Ethnobotany Research and Applications, vol. 10, pp. 109–131, 2012.
[8]  O. Powell, R. J. Fensham, and P. Memmott, “Indigenous Use of Spinifex Resin for Hafting in North-Eastern Australia,” Economic Botany, vol. 20, pp. 1–15, 2013.
[9]  N. D. Burrows, B. Ward, and A. Robinson, “Fuel dynamics and fire spread in Spinifex grasslands of the Western desert,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, vol. 115, pp. 69–76, 2009.
[10]  N. D. Burrows and P. E. S. Christensen, “A survey of aboriginal fire patterns in the Western Desert of Western Australia,” in Proceedings of the International Symposium on Fire and the Environment: Ecological and Cultural Perspectives, S. C. Nodvin and T. A. Waldrop, Eds., pp. 297–305, USDA Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Asheville, NC, USA, March 1991.
[11]  R. Bliege Bird, D. W. Bird, B. F. Codding, C. H. Parker, and J. H. Jones, “The “fire stick farming” hypothesis: australian Aboriginal foraging strategies, biodiversity, and anthropogenic fire mosaics,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 105, no. 39, pp. 14796–14801, 2008.
[12]  R. B. Bird, B. F. Codding, P. G. Kauhanen, and D. W. Bird, “Aboriginal hunting buffers climate-driven fire-size variability in Australia's spinifex grasslands,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 109, no. 26, pp. 10287–10292, 2012.
[13]  A. B. Craig, “Fire management of rangelands in the kimberley low-rainfall zone: a review,” Rangeland Journal, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 39–70, 1999.
[14]  G. P. Edwards, G. E. Allan, C. Brock, A. Duguid, K. Gabrys, and P. Vaarzon-Morel, “Fire and its management in central Australia,” The Rangeland Journal, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 109–121, 2008.
[15]  B. Rice and M. Westoby, “Regeneration after fire in Spinifex R. Br.,” Australian Journal of Ecology, vol. 24, pp. 563–572, 1999.
[16]  A. N. Andersen, G. D. Cook, L. K. Corbett et al., “Fire frequency and biodiversity conservation in Australian tropical savannas: Implications from the Kapalga fire experiment,” Austral Ecology, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 155–167, 2005.
[17]  M. McNellie, “Vegetation regeneration after spinifex harvesting and burning at Ayers Rock Resort, Yulara,” Unpublished Report, Biodiversity Unit, Parks and Wildlife Commission, Northern Territory, 2000.
[18]  R. F. Isbell, The Australian Soil Classification, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 1996.
[19]  BOM, “Bureau of Meteorology,” http://www.bom.gov.au/.
[20]  R. G. Uys, W. J. Bond, and T. M. Everson, “The effect of different fire regimes on plant diversity in southern African grasslands,” Biological Conservation, vol. 118, no. 4, pp. 489–499, 2004.
[21]  G. E. Rayment and D. J. Lyons, Soil Chemical Methods: Australasia, CSIRO, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 2011.
[22]  G. E. Rayment and F. R. Higginson, Australian Laboratory Handbook of Soil and Water Chemical Methods, Inkata Press, Melbourne, Australia, 1992.
[23]  G. R. Flematti, D. J. Merritt, M. J. Piggott et al., “Burning vegetation produces cyanohydrins that liberate cyanide and stimulate seed germination,” Nature Communications, vol. 2, no. 1, article 360, 2011.
[24]  G. B. Wells, Biology and restoration ecology of spinifex grasses (Plectrachne and Spinifex spp.) with special reference to the Argyle diamond mines, Western Australia [Ph.D. thesis], University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, 1999.
[25]  G. L. Hoyle, M. I. Daws, K. J. Steadman, and S. W. Adkins, “Pre- and post-harvest influences on physiological dormancy alleviation of an Australian Asteraceae species: Actinobole uliginosum (A. Gray) H. Eichler,” Seed Science Research, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 191–199, 2008.
[26]  K. W. Dixon, S. Roche, and J. S. Pate, “The promotive effect of smoke derived from burnt native vegetation on seed germination of Western Australian plants,” Oecologia, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 185–192, 1995.
[27]  S. W. Adkins and N. C. B. Peters, “Smoke derived from burnt vegetation stimulates germination of arable weeds,” Seed Science Research, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 213–222, 2001.
[28]  G. B. Neave, Regeneration of spinifex (Spinifex spp.) grasslands after burning or harvesting [Honours thesis], University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, 2010.
[29]  K. R. Clarke and R. M. Warwick, PRIMER Version 5.2.8, PRIMER–E, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, UK, 2nd edition, 2001.
[30]  W. J. Bond, F. I. Woodward, and G. F. Midgley, “The global distribution of ecosystems in a world without fire,” New Phytologist, vol. 165, no. 2, pp. 525–538, 2005.
[31]  G. E. Overbeck, S. C. Müller, V. D. Pillar, and J. Pfadenhauer, “Fine-scale post-fire dynamics in southern Brazilian subtropical grassland,” Journal of Vegetation Science, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 655–664, 2005.
[32]  J. E. Kinloch and M. H. Friedel, “Soil seed reserves in arid grazing lands of central Australia—part 1: seed bank and vegetation dynamics,” Journal of Arid Environments, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 133–161, 2005.
[33]  F. V. Dyke, S. E. V. Kley, C. E. Page, and J. G. V. Beek, “Restoration efforts for plant and bird communities in tallgrass prairies using prescribed burning and mowing,” Restoration Ecology, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 575–585, 2004.
[34]  D. M. J. S. Bowman, “Tansley Review No. 101. The impact of Aboriginal landscape burning on the Australian biota,” New Phytologist, vol. 140, no. 3, pp. 385–410, 1998.
[35]  D. W. Bird, R. B. Bird, and C. H. Parker, “Aboriginal burning regimes and hunting strategies in Australia's Western Desert,” Human Ecology, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 443–464, 2005.
[36]  G. Armstrong and S. Legge, “The post-fire response of an obligate seeding Triodia species (Poaceae) in the fire-prone Kimberley, north-west Australia,” International Journal of Wildland Fire, vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 974–981, 2011.
[37]  D. T. Bell, “The process of germination in Australian species,” Australian Journal of Botany, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 475–517, 1999.
[38]  E. Jurado and M. Westoby, “Germination biology of selected central Australian plants,” Australian Journal of Ecology, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 341–348, 1992.
[39]  B. R. Wright and P. J. Clarke, “Relationships between soil temperatures and properties of fire in feathertop spinifex (Triodia schinzii (Henrard) Lazarides) sandridge desert in central Australia,” The Rangeland Journal, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 317–325, 2008.
[40]  G. Armstrong, “Triodia caelestialis (Triodieae: Chloridoideae: Poaceae), a new species from the central Kimberley, Western Australia,” Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, vol. 91, no. 4, pp. 313–317, 2008.
[41]  P. Masters, C. R. Dickman, and M. Crowther, “Effects of cover reduction on mulgara Dasycercus cristicauda (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), rodent and invertebrate populations in central Australia: implications for land management,” Austral Ecology, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 658–665, 2003.
[42]  R. J. Raison, “Modification of the soil environment by vegetation fires, with particular reference to nitrogen transformations: a review,” Plant and Soil, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 73–108, 1979.
[43]  E. Epstein and A. J. Bloom, Mineral Nutrition of Plants: Principles and Perspectives, Sinauer Accociates, Sunderland, Mass, USA, 2nd edition, 2005.
[44]  A. M. Grigg, E. J. Veneklaas, and H. Lambers, “Water relations and mineral nutrition of Triodia grasses on desert dunes and interdunes,” Australian Journal of Botany, vol. 56, no. 5, pp. 408–421, 2008.
[45]  W. Koerselman and A. F. M. Meuleman, “The vegetation N:P ratio: a new tool to detect the nature of nutrient limitation,” Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1441–1450, 1996.
[46]  H. Lambers, G. R. Cawthray, P. Giavalisco et al., “Proteaceae from severely phosphorus-impoverished soils extensively replace phospholipids with galactolipids and sulfolipids during leaf development to achieve a high photosynthetic phosphorus-use-efficiency,” New Phytologist, vol. 196, no. 4, pp. 1098–1108, 2012.
[47]  J. M. Craine, T. W. Ocheltree, J. B. Nippert et al., “Global diversity of drought tolerance and grassland climate-change resilience,” Nature Climate Change, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 63–67, 2013.
[48]  J. A. Morgan, D. R. Lecain, E. Pendall et al., “C4 grasses prosper as carbon dioxide eliminates desiccation in warmed semi-arid grassland,” Nature, vol. 476, no. 7359, pp. 202–205, 2011.
[49]  L. Hughes, “Climate change and Australia: trends, projections and impacts,” Austral Ecology, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 423–443, 2003.
[50]  G. Armstrong and B. Phillips, “Fire history from life-history: determining the fire regime that a plant community is adapted using life-histories,” PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 2, Article ID e31544, 2012.

Full-Text

comments powered by Disqus

Contact Us

service@oalib.com

QQ:3279437679

WhatsApp +8615387084133