ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3469-7550
Current Organisation
University of Tasmania
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Simulation and Modelling | Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience not elsewhere classified | Pattern Recognition and Data Mining | Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences | Expanding Knowledge in the Information and Computing Sciences | Natural Hazards in Forest and Woodlands Environments |
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 10-10-2017
Abstract: Exposure to traffic related nitrogen dioxide (NO
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-04-2014
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12171
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 30-08-2022
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE5050130
Abstract: Fine fuel moisture content (FFMC) is a key determinant of wildfire occurrence, behaviour, and pyrogeographic patterns. Accurate determination of FFMC is laborious, hence managers and ecologists have devised a range of empirical and mechanistic measures for FFMC. These FFMC measures, however, have received limited field validation against field-based gravimetric fuel moisture measurements. Using statistical modelling, we evaluate the use of the relationship between gravimetric FFMC and the Fuel Moisture Index (FMI), based on Hygrochron iButton humidity and temperature dataloggers. We do this in Tasmanian wet and dry Eucalyptus forests subjected to strongly contrasting disturbance histories and, hence, percentage of canopy cover. We show that 24 h average FMI based on data from Hygrochron iButtons 0.75 m above the forest floor provides reliable estimates of gravimetric litter fuel moisture (c. 1 h fuels) that are strongly correlated with near surface gravimetric fuel moisture sticks (c. 10 h fuels). We conclude FMI based on Hygrochron iButton data provides ecologists with an economic and effective method to retrospectively measure landscape patterns in fuel moisture in Tasmanian forests.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 27-05-2020
DOI: 10.5194/NHESS-20-1497-2020
Abstract: Abstract. Extreme fires have substantial adverse effects on society and natural ecosystems. Such events can be associated with the intense coupling of fire behaviour with the atmosphere, resulting in extreme fire characteristics such as pyrocumulonimbus cloud (pyroCb) development. Concern that anthropogenic climate change is increasing the occurrence of pyroCbs globally is driving more focused research into these meteorological phenomena. Using 6 min scans from a nearby weather radar, we describe the development of a pyroCb during the afternoon of 4 January 2013 above the Forcett–Dunalley fire in south-eastern Tasmania. We relate storm development to (1) near-surface weather using the McArthur forest fire danger index (FFDI) and the C-Haines index, the latter of which is a measure of the vertical atmospheric stability and dryness, both derived from gridded weather reanalysis for Tasmania (BARRA-TA) and (2) a chronosequence of fire severity derived from remote sensing. We show that the pyroCb rapidly developed over a 24 min period on the afternoon of 4 January, with the cloud top reaching a height of 15 km. The pyroCb was associated with a highly unstable lower atmosphere (C-Haines value of 10–11) and severe–marginally extreme (FFDI 60–75) near-surface fire weather, and it formed over an area of forest that was severely burned (total crown defoliation). We use spatial patterns of elevated fire weather in Tasmania and fire weather during major runs of large wildfires in Tasmania for the period from 2007 to 2016 to geographically and historically contextualise this pyroCb event. Although the Forcett–Dunalley fire is the only known record of a pyroCb in Tasmania, our results show that eastern and south-eastern Tasmania are prone to the conjunction of high FFDI and C-Haines values that have been associated with pyroCb development. Our findings have implications for fire weather forecasting and wildfire management, and they highlight the vulnerability of south-east Tasmania to extreme fire events.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-08-2019
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13684
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-07-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-08-2015
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1071/BT10045
Abstract: The conifer Callitris glaucophylla J.Thompson & L.A.S.Johnson (Cupressaceae) is a fire-sensitive obligate seeder with a heavily fragmented distribution across the Australian continent. We undertook a broad-scale biophysical survey and analysed the population structure of 21 populations in the West MacDonnell Ranges of central Australia. C. glaucophylla had a patchy distribution associated with steep, rocky metamorphic areas with limited evidence of fire. Variation in population structures was clearly related to recent fire history. Nearly half of ‘adult’ C. glaucophylla trees ( -cm stem diameter) from the s led stands were dead, with the proportion at in idual sites related to evidence of fire. Fire scars were evident on 48% of all live trees we measured. The overall density of live adult trees conformed to a negative exponential size-class distribution, consistent with a regionally stable population structure. However, we found higher sapling densities and lower seedlings densities than expected by this distribution. This regional peak in the sapling size class reflects a pulse of recruitment, possibly associated with a wet period in the 1970s. Low seedling densities are probably due to subsequent drought. We conclude that fire controls the distribution of Callitris on the West MacDonnell Ranges, and the timing of recruitment depends on rainfall patterns.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2014
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12184
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-02-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2013
DOI: 10.1071/WF11165
Abstract: Smoke pollution from wildfires can adversely affect human health, and there is uncertainty about the amount of smoke pollution caused by prescribed v. wildfires, a problem demanding a landscape perspective given that air quality monitoring is sparse outside of urban airsheds. The primary objective was to assess differences in fire intensity and smoke plume area between prescribed fires and wildfires around Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. We matched thermal anomaly satellite data to databases of fires in forests surrounding both cities. For each matched fire we determined hotspot count and quantified their intensity using the fire radiative power (FRP) measurement. Smoke plumes were mapped using MODIS true colour images. Wildfires had more extreme fire intensity values than did prescribed burns and the mean size of wildfire plumes was six times greater than of prescribed fire plumes for both cities. Statistical modelling showed that the horizontal area covered by smoke plumes could be predicted by hotspot count and sum of FRP, with differences between cities and fire type. Smoke plumes from both fire types reached both urban areas, and particulate pollution was higher on days affected by smoke plumes. Our results suggested that prescribed fires produced smaller smoke plume areas than did wildfires in two different flammable landscapes. Smoke plume and FRP data, combined with air pollution data from static monitors, can be used to improve smoke management for human health.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2022
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-11-2016
DOI: 10.1002/ESE3.101
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-09-2016
DOI: 10.1002/WCC.428
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-03-2021
DOI: 10.20944/PREPRINTS202103.0173.V1
Abstract: Fire risk can be defined as the probability that a fire will spread. Reliable monitoring of fire risk is essential for effective landscape management. Compilation of fire risk records enable identification of seasonal and inter-annual patterns and provide a baseline to evaluate the trajectories in response to climate change. Typically, fire risk is estimated from meteorological data. In regions with sparse meteorological station coverage environmental proxies provide important additional data stream for estimating past and current fire risk. Here we use a 60-year record of daily flows from two rivers (Franklin and Davey) in the remote Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) to characterize seasonal patterns in fire risk in temperate Eucalyptus and rainforests. We show that river flows are strongly related to landscape soil moisture estimates derived from down-scaled re-analysis of meteorological data available since 1990. To identify river flow thresholds where forests are likely to burn, we relate river flows to known forest fires that have occurred in the previously defined ecohydrological domains that surround the Franklin and Davey catchments. Our analysis shows that the fire season in the TWWHA is centered on February (70% of all years below the median threshold), with shoulders on December-January and March. Since 1954 forest fire can occur in at least one month for all but four summers in the ecohydrological domain that includes the Franklin catchment, and since 1964 fire fires could occur in at least one month in every summer in the ecohydrological domain that includes the Davey catchment. Our analysis shows that mangers can use river flows as a simple index that provide a landscape-scale forest fire risk in the TWWHA.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 24-03-2020
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 29-05-2014
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 22-10-2018
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE1030040
Abstract: Fire severity is an important characteristic of fire regimes however, global assessments of fire regimes typically focus more on fire frequency and burnt area. Our objective in this case study is to use multiple lines of evidence to understand fire severity and intensity patterns and their environmental correlates in the extreme 2013 Forcett-Dunalley fire in southeast Tasmania, Australia. We use maximum likelihood classification of aerial photography, and fire behavior equations, to report on fire severity and intensity patterns, and compare the performance of multiple thresholds of the normalised burn ratio (dNBR) and normalized difference vegetation index (dNDVI) (from pre- and post-fire Landsat 7 images) against classified aerial photography. We investigate how vegetation, topography, and fire weather, and therefore intensity, influenced fire severity patterns. According to the aerial photographic classification, the fire burnt 25,950 ha of which 5% burnt at low severities, 17% at medium severity, 32% at high severity, 23% at very high severities, while 22% contained unburnt patches. Generalized linear modelling revealed that fire severity was strongly influenced by slope angle, aspect, and interactions between vegetation type and fire weather (FFDI) ranging from moderate (12) to catastrophic ( ). Extreme fire weather, which occurred in 2% of the total fire duration of the fire (16 days), caused the fire to burn nearly half (46%) of the total area of the fireground and resulted in modelled extreme fireline intensities among all vegetation types, including an inferred peak of 68,000 kW·m−1 in dry forest. The best satellite-based severity map was the site-specific dNBR (45% congruence with aerial photography) showing dNBR potential in Eucalyptus forests, but the reliability of this approach must be assessed using aerial photography, and/or ground assessment.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-04-2014
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12180
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2015
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1071/RJ09083
Abstract: The patterns of rainfall early in the rainy season vary substantially across northern Australia, even in sites with the same annual average. This has biophysical and economic implications in terms of land and infrastructure management, resource availability and capacity, and access. Daily patterns in long-term rainfall records in Australia north of 23°S subject to regular monsoonal rainfall were compared with threshold levels for dryland and wetland seed germination, initiation of the growing season, patterns of gaps between early storms and the heaviness of the first falls, correlations between thresholds, spatial variation in correlation with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and temporal trends in mean threshold dates. The earliest rains sufficient to cause seed germination or generate fresh fodder occur in the north-west of the Northern Territory with the average date being later to the south, east and west. Initial falls of the rainy season are heaviest, however, on Cape York Peninsula so that the time between first falls and saturation is shortest in the east. The probability of extended gaps between rainfall events increased from north to south. When the SOI is taken into account, no change in timing could be detected at the few sites with records of sufficient duration. However, because of changes in SOI frequency, rains are tending to start earlier in the drier parts of the north and north-west and later in the east. This may be because anthropogenic climate change is resulting in fewer classical El Niño Southern Oscillation events and more frequent El Niño Modoki climate anomalies.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-11-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14460
Abstract: 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 regimes) enabled estimation of how biomass combustion by surface fire directly affects continental-scale carbon budgets. In terms of biomass consumption, we found clear trade-offs between the frequency and severity of surface fires. In temperate southern Australia, characterised by less frequent and more severe fires, biomass consumed per fire was typically very high. In contrast, surface fires in the tropical savannas of northern Australia were very frequent but less severe, with much lower consumption of biomass per fire (about a quarter of that in the far south). When biomass consumption was expressed on an annual basis, biomass consumed was far greater in the tropical savannas (>20 times that of the far south). This trade-off is also apparent in the ratio of annual carbon consumption to net primary production (NPP). Across Australia's naturally vegetated land area, annual carbon consumption by surface fire is equivalent to about 11% of NPP, with a sharp contrast between temperate southern Australia (6%) and tropical northern Australia (46%). Our results emphasise that fire management to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should focus on fire prone tropical savanna landscapes, where the vast bulk of biomass consumption occurs globally. In these landscapes, grass biomass is a key driver of frequency, intensity and combustion completeness of surface fires, and management actions that increase grass biomass are likely to lead to increases in greenhouse gas emissions from savanna fires.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-10-2016
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.12889
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 02-11-2019
Abstract: In 2014, wildfires ignited a fire in the Morwell open cut coal mine, Australia, which burned for six weeks. This study examined associations between self-reported respiratory outcomes in adults and mine fire-related PM2.5 smoke exposure. Self-reported data were collected as part of the Hazelwood Health Study Adult Survey. Eligible participants were adult residents of Morwell. Mine fire-related PM2.5 concentrations were provided by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Oceans & Atmosphere Flagship. Personalised mean 24-h and peak 12-h mine fire-related PM2.5 exposures were estimated for each participant. Data were analysed by multivariate logistic regression. There was some evidence of an association between respiratory outcomes and mine fire PM2.5 exposure. Chronic cough was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.13 (95% confidence interval 1.03 to 1.23) per 10 μg/m3 increment in mean PM2.5 and 1.07 (1.02 to 1.12) per 100 μg/m3 increment in peak PM2.5. Current wheeze was associated with peak PM2.5, OR = 1.06 (1.02 to 1.11) and chronic phlegm with mean PM2.5 OR = 1.10 (1.00 to 1.20). Coal mine PM2.5 smoke exposure was associated with increased odds of experiencing cough, phlegm and wheeze. Males, participants 18–64 years, and those residing in homes constructed from non-brick/concrete materials or homes with tin/metal roofs had higher estimated ORs. These findings contribute to the formation of public health policy responses.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 07-05-2020
Abstract: The island state of Tasmania has marked seasonal variations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations related to wood heating during winter, planned forest fires during autumn and spring, and bushfires during summer. Biomass smoke causes considerable health harms and associated costs. We estimated the historical health burden from PM2.5 attributable to wood heater smoke (WHS) and landscape fire smoke (LFS) in Tasmania between 2010 and 2019. We calculated the daily population level exposure to WHS- and LFS-related PM2.5 and estimated the number of cases and health costs due to premature mortality, cardiorespiratory hospital admissions, and asthma emergency department (ED) visits. We estimated 69 deaths, 86 hospital admissions, and 15 asthma ED visits, each year, with over 74% of impacts attributed to WHS. Average yearly costs associated with WHS were of AUD$ 293 million and AUD$ 16 million for LFS. The latter increased up to more than AUD$ 34 million during extreme bushfire seasons. This is the first study to quantify the health impacts attributable to biomass smoke for Tasmania. We estimated substantial impacts, which could be reduced through replacing heating technologies, improving fire management, and possibly implementing integrated strategies. This would most likely produce important and cost-effective health benefits.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2021
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12453
Abstract: The temperate Eucalyptus savannas in the Midlands of Tasmania are ancient ecosystems where fire and grazing are intrinsic ecological disturbances. The arrival of Aboriginal people into Tasmania some 40,000 years ago altered natural fire regimes, and since the end of the last ice age, their skilful patch burning increased the grass cover and the abundance of large grazers in the Midlands savannas. This ancient socio‐ecological tradition abruptly ended following European invasion in the early 19th century, which resulted in the rapid establishment of pastoralism, causing profound adverse changes to the ecological integrity of the temperate savannas. These changes include widespread tree clearing, extinction of native biota, establishment of domestic and feral mammalian herbivores, the introduction of exotic plants, broadscale application of chemical fertilisers and more recently irrigation. The Midlands retains a small fraction of the original vegetation, which typically occurs in small fragments on private land. These have been colonised by non‐native plants and animals, and experience altered fire regimes. There is a growing awareness that to effectively manage temperate savanna fragments may require the intentional coupling of fire and herbivory. We describe the establishment of a field experiment designed to test four broad hypotheses: a) herbivore off‐take increases after fire b) smaller burned areas experience more intense herbivory than larger ones c) non‐native herbaceous plants are more tolerant of herbivory, whereas native herbaceous species are more tolerant of fire and d) Eucalyptus seedlings are most likely to reach maturity in areas which are both burned and protected from herbivores. A novel aspect of the fire‐herbivore experiment was that the Tasmanian Aboriginal community were engaged with and were contracted to conduct the burning. The findings of this landscape ecology experiment will inform the management of remnant temperate Eucalyptus savannas.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1071/PC110354
Abstract: Biogeographers often investigate patterns of bio ersity at continental and global scales, using existing data georeferenced to a lattice of cells of latitude and longitude. Problems can arise with this approach when the available biological data are insufficient to adequately s le each cell and the cells are environmentally heterogeneous. An alternative, though less-often employed, approach is to use bioregions (defined as areas with distinctive biophysical environmental characteristics) as the basic s ling unit and to statistically control for unequal areas of regions. Here we applied this latter approach with the Interim Biogeographical Regionalisation of Australia (IBRA) to analyse continental patterns of songbird species richness in relation to mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, and mean wet season temperature, which are all predicted to substantially change given anthropogenic climate change. We used the Birds Australia database that has a large s le ( ,560,000) of distribution records covering Australia. For each of the 85 IBRAs, we determined the total number of songbird species and standardized these richness values accounting for the species-area effect by including the log of bioregion area as a covariate in the statistical models. Our analysis of standardized bioregion songbirds richness showed that the best supported model, based on information theory statistics included an interaction of mean annual temperature and precipitation (48.6% deviance explained). The fitted model showed declining richness with increasing temperature and declining precipitation, signalling that future climates may result in regional declines in songbird abundance. We suggest our simple empirical-statistical approach, using bioregions as the spatial unit, has promise for continental and global impact assessment of ersity changes and for conservation planning
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.16006
Abstract: There is mounting concern that global wildfire activity is shifting in frequency, intensity, and seasonality in response to climate change. Fuel moisture provides a powerful means of detecting changing fire potential. Here, we use global burned area, weather reanalysis data, and the Canadian fire weather index system to calculate fuel moisture trends for multiscale biogeographic regions across a gradient in vegetation productivity. We quantify the proportion of days in the local fire season between 1979 and 2019, where fuel moisture content is below a critical threshold indicating extreme fire potential. We then associate fuel moisture trends over that period to vegetation productivity and comment on its implications for projected anthropogenic climate change. Overall, there is a strong drying trend across realms, biomes, and the productivity gradient. Even where a wetting trend is observed, this often indicates a trend toward increasing fire activity due to an expected increase in fuel production. The detected trends across the productivity gradient lead us to conclude global fire activity will increase with anthropogenic climate change.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-2022
DOI: 10.20944/PREPRINTS202209.0011.V1
Abstract: A neglected dimension of the fire regime concept is fire patchiness. Habitat mosaics that emerge from the grain of burned and unburned patches (pyro ersity) are critical for the persistence of a erse range of plant and animal species. This issue is of particular importance in frequently burned tropical Eucalyptus savannas, where coarse fire mosaics have been hypothesized to have caused the recent drastic population declines of small mammals. Satellites routinely used for fire mapping in these systems are unable to accurately map fine-grained fire mosaics, frustrating our ability to determine whether declines in bio ersity are associated with local pyro ersity. To advance this problem, we have developed a novel method (we call & lsquo double-differenced dNBR& rsquo ) that combines the infrequent (c. bi-monthly) detailed spatial resolution Landsat with daily coarse scale coverage of MODIS and VIIRS to map pyro ersity in the savannas of Kakadu National Park. We used seasonal Landsat mosaics and differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) to define burned areas, with a modification to dNBR that subtracts long-term average dNBR to increase contrast. Our results show this approach is effective in mapping fine-scale fire mosaics in the homogenous lowland savannas, although inappropriate for nearby heterogenous landscapes. Comparison of this methods to other fire metrics (e.g., area burned, seasonality) based on Landsat and MODIS imagery suggest this method is likely accurate and better at quantifying fine-scale patchiness of fire, albeit it demands detailed field validation.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-05-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13499
Abstract: ‘Megafire’ is an emerging concept commonly used to describe fires that are extreme in terms of size, behaviour, and/or impacts, but the term’s meaning remains ambiguous. We sought to resolve ambiguity surrounding the meaning of ‘megafire’ by conducting a structured review of the use and definition of the term in several languages in the peer‐reviewed scientific literature. We collated definitions and descriptions of megafire and identified criteria frequently invoked to define megafire. We recorded the size and location of megafires and mapped them to reveal global variation in the size of fires described as megafires. We identified 109 studies that define the term ‘megafire’ or identify a megafire, with the term first appearing in the peer‐reviewed literature in 2005. Seventy‐one (~65%) of these studies attempted to describe or define the term. There was considerable variability in the criteria used to define megafire, although definitions of megafire based on fire size were most common. Megafire size thresholds varied geographically from 100–100,000 ha, with fires 10,000 ha the most common size threshold (41%, 18/44 studies). Definitions of megafire were most common from studies led by authors from North America (52%, 37/71). We recorded 137 instances from 84 studies where fires were reported as megafires, the vast majority (94%, 129/137) of which exceed 10,000 ha in size. Megafires occurred in a range of biomes, but were most frequently described in forested biomes (112/137, 82%), and usually described single ignition fires (59% 81/137). As Earth’s climate and ecosystems change, it is important that scientists can communicate trends in the occurrence of larger and more extreme fires with clarity. To overcome ambiguity, we suggest a definition of megafire as fires 10,000 ha arising from single or multiple related ignition events. We introduce two additional terms – gigafire ( 100,000 ha) and terafire ( 1,000,000 ha) – for fires of an even larger scale than megafires.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-08-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-02-2017
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.2734
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 11-10-2012
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 06-12-2018
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE1030050
Abstract: The extensible Biomass Smoke Validated Events Database is an ongoing, community driven, collection of air pollution events which are known to be caused by vegetation fires such as bushfires (also known as wildfire and wildland fires), or prescribed fuel reduction burns, and wood heaters. This is useful for researchers of health impacts who need to distinguish smoke from vegetation versus other sources. The overarching aim is to study statistical associations between biomass smoke pollution and health. Extreme pollution events may also be caused by dust storms or fossil fuel smog events and so validation is necessary to ensure the events being studied are from biomass. This database can be extended by contribution from other researchers outside the original team. There are several available protocols for adding validated smoke events to the database, to ensure standardization across datasets. Air pollution data can be included, and free software was created for identification of extreme values. Protocols are described for reference material needed as supporting evidence for event days. The utility of this database has previously been demonstrated in analyses of hospitalization and mortality. The database was created using open source software that works across operating systems. The prospect for future extensions to the database is enhanced by the description in this paper, and the availability of these data on the open access Github repository enables easy addition to the database with new data by the research community.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-12-2016
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.12919
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 22-12-2022
DOI: 10.2196/38471
Abstract: Climate change is projected to increase environmental health hazard risks through fire-related air pollution and increased airborne pollen levels. To protect vulnerable populations, it is imperative that evidence-based and accessible interventions are available. The environmental health app, AirRater, was developed in 2015 in Australia to provide information on multiple atmospheric health hazards in near real time. The app allows users to view local environmental conditions, and input and track their personal symptoms to enable behaviors that protect health in response to environmental hazards. This study aimed to develop insights into users’ perceptions of engagement, comprehension, and trust in AirRater to inform the future development of environmental health apps. Specifically, this study explored which AirRater features users engaged with, what additional features or functionality needs users felt they required, users’ self-perception of understanding app information, and their level of trust in the information provided. A total of 42 adult AirRater users were recruited from 3 locations in Australia to participate in semistructured interviews to capture location- or context-specific experiences. Participants were notified of the recruitment opportunity through multiple avenues including newsletter articles and social media. Informed consent was obtained before participation, and the participants were remunerated for their time and perspectives. A preinterview questionnaire collected data including age range, any preexisting conditions, and location (postcode). All participant data were deidentified. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis in NVivo 12 (QSR International). Participants discussed app features and functionality, as well as their understanding of, and trust in, the information provided by the app. Most (26/42, 62%) participants used and valued visual environmental hazard features, especially maps, location settings, and hazard alerts. Most (33/42, 78%) found information in the app easy to understand and support their needs, irrespective of their self-reported literacy levels. Many (21/42, 50%) users reported that they did not question the accuracy of the data presented in the app. Suggested enhancements include the provision of meteorological information (eg, wind speed or direction, air pressure, UV rating, and humidity), functionality enhancements (eg, forecasting, additional alerts, and the inclusion of health advice), and clarification of existing information (eg, symptom triggers), including the capacity to download personal summary data for a specified period. Participants’ perspectives can inform the future development of environmental health apps. Specifically, participants’ insights support the identification of key elements for the optimal development of environmental health app design, including streamlining, capacity for users to customize, use of real time data, visual cues, credibility, and accuracy of data. The results also suggest that, in the future, iterative collaboration between developers, environmental agencies, and users will likely promote better functional design, user trust in the data, and ultimately better population health outcomes.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2010
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 17-12-2021
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE4040097
Abstract: The 2019–20 Australian fire season was heralded as emblematic of the catastrophic harm wrought by climate change. Similarly extreme wildfire seasons have occurred across the globe in recent years. Here, we apply a pyrogeographic lens to the recent Australian fires to examine the range of causes, impacts and responses. We find that the extensive area burnt was due to extreme climatic circumstances. However, antecedent hazard reduction burns (prescribed burns with the aim of reducing fuel loads) were effective in reducing fire severity and house loss, but their effectiveness declined under extreme weather conditions. Impacts were disproportionately borne by socially disadvantaged regional communities. Urban populations were also impacted through prolonged smoke exposure. The fires produced large carbon emissions, burnt fire-sensitive ecosystems and exposed large areas to the risk of bio ersity decline by being too frequently burnt in the future. We argue that the rate of change in fire risk delivered by climate change is outstripping the capacity of our ecological and social systems to adapt. A multi-lateral approach is required to mitigate future fire risk, with an emphasis on reducing the vulnerability of people through a reinvigoration of community-level capacity for targeted actions to complement mainstream fire management capacity.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1071/WR09144
Abstract: Context. Understanding how the in idual movement patterns and dispersion of a population change following wildlife management interventions is crucial for effective population management. Aims. We quantified the impacts of two wildlife management strategies, a lethal intervention and a subsequent barrier intervention, on localised populations of the two most common macropod species in Tasmania, the Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) and the red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus). This manipulation allowed us to examine two competing hypotheses concerning the distribution of in iduals in animal populations – the Ideal Free Distribution (IFD) hypothesis and the Rose Petal (RP) hypothesis. We predicted that the RP would be supported if in iduals maintained their previous home ranges following intervention, whereas the IFD would be supported if in iduals redistributed following the management interventions. Methods. The movement patterns of T. billardierii and M. r. rufogriseus were tracked using GPS technology before and after the two management interventions. Key results. Following lethal intervention, pademelons and wallabies (1) maintained their home-range area, (2) increased their utilisation of agricultural habitat and (3) shifted their mean centroid locations compared with the pre-intervention period. Following barrier intervention, pademelons and wallabies (1) maintained their home-range area, (2) decreased their utilisation of agricultural habitat and (3) shifted their mean centroid locations compared with the pre-intervention period. Conclusions. On the basis of the in idual responses of macropods to the management strategies (1) lethal intervention appeared to induce small shifts in home-range distributions of those remaining in iduals in the population with home ranges overlapping the areas of lethal intervention and (2) barrier intervention is likely to induce whole-scale population movements of the animals that survive the lethal intervention in their search of an alternative food source. Both species displayed spatial and temporal shifts in their home-range distributions in response to lethal and barrier interventions that appear to conform broadly to predictions of IFD, at least in the timeframe of the present experiment. Implications. Wildlife management strategies, which are increasingly constrained by ethical, socio-political and financial considerations, should be based on ecological and behavioural data regarding the likely responses of the target population.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1071/WF17166
Abstract: Smoke pollution from landscape fires is a major health issue. Prescribed burning aims to reduce the area and impact of wildfire, but itself produces smoke pollution. This raises the question as to whether the smoke production and transport from prescribed fires is substantially different compared to wildfires. We examined the maximum height, width and areal footprint of large-particle plumes from 97 wild and 126 prescribed fires in south-eastern Australia using the existing network of weather radars. Radar detects large particles in smoke (probably those μm) and hence is an imperfect proxy for microfine ( μm) particles that are known to affect human health. Of the 223 landscape fires, ~45% of plumes were detected, with the probability being .8 for large fires ( 000 ha) regardless of type, closer than 50 km from the radar. Plume height was strongly influenced by fire area, the height of the planetary boundary layer and fire type. Plume heights differed between wildfire (range 1016–12 206 m, median 3260 m) and prescribed fires (range 706–6397 m, median 1669 m), and prescribed fires were predicted to be 800–1200 m lower than wildfires, controlling for other factors. For both wildfires and prescribed fires, the maximum plume footprint was always near the ground.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-11-2012
DOI: 10.1002/PS.2317
Abstract: Microbial and insect-growth-regulator larvicides dominate current vector control programmes because they reduce larval abundance and are relatively environmentally benign. However, their short persistence makes them expensive, and environmental manipulation of larval habitat might be an alternative control measure. Aedes vigilax is a major vector species in northern Australia. A field experiment was implemented in Darwin, Australia, to test the hypotheses that (1) aerial microbial larvicide application effectively decreases Ae. vigilax larval presence, and therefore adult emergence, and (2) environmental manipulation is an effective alternative control measure. Generalised linear and mixed-effects modelling and information-theoretic comparisons were used to test these hypotheses. It is shown that the current aerial larvicide application c aign is effective at suppressing the emergence of Ae. vigilax, whereas vegetation removal is not as effective in this context. In addition, the results indicate that current larval s ling procedures are inadequate for quantifying larval abundance or adult emergence. This field-based comparison has shown that the existing larviciding c aign is more effective than a simple environmental management strategy for mosquito control. It has also identified an important knowledge gap in the use of larval s ling to evaluate the effectiveness of vector control strategies.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2019.113340
Abstract: Evidence of health effects following early life exposure to short-to-medium duration of high pollution levels is extremely limited. We aimed to evaluate the associations between: 1. intrauterine exposure to fine particulate matter (PM All participants were recruited from the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. Participants' 24-h average and hourly peak mine fire-specific PM We included 286 of 311 children whose parents consented to be linked, comprising 77 with no exposure, 88 with intrauterine exposure and 121 with exposure in infancy. 10- and 100- μg m Exposure to coal mine fire emissions during infancy was associated with increased dispensing of antibiotics. This could reflect increased childhood infections or increased prescriptions of antibiotics in the year following the fire.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2021
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 19-12-2019
Abstract: Abstract. Extreme fires have substantial adverse effects on society and natural ecosystems. Such events can be associated with intense coupling of fire behaviour with the atmosphere, resulting in extreme fire characteristics such as pyrocumulonimbus cloud (pyroCb) development. Concern that anthropogenic climate change is increasing the occurrence of pyroCbs globally is driving more focused research into these meteorological phenomena. Using 6-minute scans from a nearby weather radar, we describe the development of a pyroCb during the afternoon of 4 January 2013 above the Forcett-Dunalley fire in south-eastern Tasmania. We relate storm development to: (1) near-surface weather using the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI), and the C-Haines Index, a measure of the vertical atmospheric stability and dryness both derived from gridded weather reanalysis for Tasmania (BARRA-TA), and (2) a chronosequence of fire severity derived from remote sensing. We show that the pyroCb rapidly developed over a 24-minute period in the afternoon of 4 January, with the cloud top reaching a height of 15 km. The pyroCb was associated with a highly unstable atmosphere (C-Haines 10-11) and Severe-marginally Extreme (FFDI 60-75) near-surface fire weather, and formed over an area of forest that was severely burned (total crown defoliation). We use spatial patterns of elevated fire weather in Tasmania, and fire weather during major runs of large wildfires in Tasmania for the period 2007–2016 to geographically and historically contextualise this pyroCb event. Although the Forcett-Dunalley fire is the only known record of a pyroCb in Tasmania, our results show that eastern and south-eastern Tasmania are prone to the conjunction of high FFDI and C-Haines values that have been associated with pyroCb development. Our findings have implications for fire weather forecasting and wildfire management, and highlight the vulnerability of southeast Tasmania to extreme fire events.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-8137.2012.04359.X
Abstract: Tree species exceeding 70 m in height are rare globally. Giant gymnosperms are concentrated near the Pacific coast of the USA , while the tallest angiosperms are eucalypts ( E ucalyptus spp.) in southern and eastern Australia. Giant eucalypts co‐occur with rain‐forest trees in eastern Australia, creating unique vegetation communities comprising fire‐dependent trees above fire‐intolerant rain‐forest. However, giant eucalypts can also tower over shrubby understoreys (e.g. in Western Australia). The local abundance of giant eucalypts is controlled by interactions between fire activity and landscape setting. Giant eucalypts have features that increase flammability (e.g. oil‐rich foliage and open crowns) relative to other rain‐forest trees but it is debatable if these features are adaptations. Probable drivers of eucalypt gigantism are intense intra‐specific competition following severe fires, and inter‐specific competition among adult trees. However, we suggest that this was made possible by a general capacity of eucalypts for ‘hyper‐emergence’. We argue that, because giant eucalypts occur in rain‐forest climates and share traits with rain‐forest pioneers, they should be regarded as long‐lived rain‐forest pioneers, albeit with a particular dependence on fire for regeneration. These unique ecosystems are of high conservation value, following substantial clearing and logging over 150 yr. Contents Summary 1001 I. Introduction 1001 II. Giant eucalypts in a global context 1002 III. Giant eucalypts – taxonomy and distribution 1004 IV. Growth of giant eucalypts 1006 V. Fire and regeneration of giant eucalypts 1008 VI. Are giant eucalypts different from other rain‐forest trees? 1009 VII. Conclusions 1010 Acknowledgements 1011 References 1011
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-04-2021
Abstract: The relationships between productivity, fire frequency and fire severity shape the distribution of plant communities globally. Dry forests are expected to burn frequently and wet forests to burn infrequently. However, the effect of productivity on intensity and severity of wildfire is less consistent and poorly understood. One productive ecosystem where this is especially true is the Australian tall wet Eucalyptus ‐dominated forest (TWEF), which spans wet areas across the continent. This study aims to characterise how climate shapes the likelihood of low‐ and high‐severity wildfire across Australian TWEF. We performed a continental‐scale analysis of fuels in 48 permanent plots in early‐mature stage TWEF across four climate regions in Australia. We estimated fuel loads and measured understorey microclimate. We then obtained historical fire‐weather observations from nearby meteorological stations and used fuel moisture and fire behaviour equations to predict the historical frequency with which TWEF could burn and what fire severities were expected. We investigated how this varies across the different TWEF climate regions. Lastly, we validated our approach by remeasuring eight plots that burned unexpectedly post‐measurement. We found that surface fuels in cooler, moister regions were available to burn 1–16 days per year historically, with only low‐severity, surface fire possible most of these days: high‐severity fire was only possible under rare, extreme fire‐weather conditions. However, in warmer, drier regions, fuels were available to burn 23–35 days annually, and high‐severity fire was more likely than low‐severity fire. Validation showed that we slightly overestimated flame heights, inflating high‐severity risk estimates. If we used elevated fuel loads to predict flame heights, however, high‐severity fire was more likely than low‐severity fire everywhere. Lastly, the likelihood of high‐severity fire increased with increasing temperature and worsening fire weather. Synthesis . Fire activity in early‐mature TWEF is limited by climatic constraints on fire weather and availability to burn, with high‐severity fire more likely in warmer, drier regions than in cooler, wetter ones. This indicates a particularly worrisome vulnerability to climate change, given TWEF's diminished ability to recover from disturbance in a warmer world. The occurrence of both low‐ and high‐severity fire means the fire regimes of TWEF are best described as mixed severity.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-03-2020
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12877
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-01-2011
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 19-12-2019
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 28-05-2018
DOI: 10.1029/2018GL078294
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-07-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S41976-022-00070-9
Abstract: To date, most studies of fire severity, which is the ecological damage produced by a fire across all vegetation layers in an ecosystem, using remote sensing have focused on wildfires and forests, with less attention given to prescribed burns and treeless vegetation. Our research analyses a multi-decadal satellite record of fire severity in wildfires and prescribed burns, across forested and treeless vegetation, in western Tasmania, a wet region of frequent clouds. We used Landsat satellite images, fire history mapping and environmental predictor variables to understand what drives fire severity. Remotely-sensed fire severity was estimated by the Delta Normalised Burn Ratio (ΔNBR) for 57 wildfires and 70 prescribed burns spanning 25 years. Then, we used Random Forests to identify important predictors of fire severity, followed by generalised additive mixed models to test the statistical association between the predictors and fire severity. In the Random Forests analyses, mean summer precipitation, mean minimum monthly soil moisture and time since previous fire were important predictors in both forested and treeless vegetation, whereas mean annual precipitation was important in forests and temperature seasonality was important in treeless vegetation. Modelled ΔNBR (predicted ΔNBRs from the best-performing generalised additive mixed model) of wildfire forests was higher than modelled ΔNBR of prescribed burns. This study confirms that western Tasmania is a valuable pyrogeographical model for studying fire severity of wet ecosystems under climate change, and provides a framework to better understand the interactions between climate, fire severity and prescribed burning.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-08-2021
DOI: 10.1111/RESP.14117
Abstract: The link between respiratory and vascular health is well documented in adult populations. Impaired lung function is consistently associated with thicker arteries and higher incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, there are limited data on this relationship in young children and the studies that exist have focussed on populations at high risk of cardiorespiratory morbidity. We determined if an association exists between respiratory and cardiovascular function in young children and, if so, whether it is confounded by known cardiorespiratory risk factors. Respiratory and vascular data from a prospective cohort study established to evaluate the health implications 3 years after coal mine fire smoke exposure in children aged 3–5 years were used. Respiratory function was measured using the forced oscillation technique and included resistance at 5 Hz ( R 5 ), reactance at 5 Hz ( X 5 ) and area under the reactance curve (AX). Vascular health was measured by carotid intima‐media thickness (ultrasound) and pulse wave velocity (arterial tonometry). Regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between the respiratory Z ‐scores and cardiovascular measures. Subsequent analyses were adjusted for potential confounding by maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal education and exposure to fine particulate matter .5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM 2.5 ). Peripheral lung function ( X 5 and AX), but not respiratory system resistance ( R 5 ), was associated with vascular function. Adjustment for maternal smoking, maternal education and early life exposure to PM 2.5 had minimal effect on these associations. These observations suggest that peripheral lung stiffness is associated with vascular stiffness and that this relationship is established early in life.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 13-04-2021
Abstract: During extreme air pollution events, such as bushfires, public health agencies often recommend that vulnerable in iduals visit a nearby public building with central air conditioning to reduce their exposure to smoke. However, there is limited evidence that these “cleaner indoor air shelters” reduce exposure or health risks. We quantified the impact of a “cleaner indoor air shelter” in a public library in Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia when concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were elevated during a local peat fire and nearby bushfires. Specifically, we evaluated the air quality improvements with central air conditioning only and with the use of portable high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter air cleaners. We measured PM2.5 from August 2019 until February 2020 by deploying pairs of low-cost PM2.5 sensors (i) inside the main library, (ii) in a smaller media room inside the library, (iii) outside the library, and (iv) co-located with regulatory monitors located in the town. We operated two HEPA cleaners in the media room from August until October 2019. We quantified the infiltration efficiency of outdoor PM2.5 concentrations, defined as the fraction of the outdoor PM2.5 concentration that penetrates indoors and remains suspended, as well as the additional effect of HEPA cleaners on PM2.5 concentrations. The infiltration efficiency of outdoor PM2.5 into the air-conditioned main library was 30%, meaning that compared to the PM2.5 concentration outdoors, the concentrations of outdoor-generated PM2.5 indoors were reduced by 70%. In the media room, when the HEPA cleaners were operating, PM2.5 concentrations were reduced further with a PM2.5 infiltration efficiency of 17%. A carefully selected air-conditioned public building could be used as a cleaner indoor air shelter during episodes of elevated smoke emissions. Further improvements in indoor air quality within the building can be achieved by operating appropriately sized HEPA cleaners.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-01-2013
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.12065
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 26-02-2022
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE5020033
Abstract: Tasmania is a large island (68,401 km2) that lies 200 km south of the south-eastern Australian mainland [...]
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-11-2015
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12389
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 30-03-2021
Abstract: AirRater is a free smartphone app developed in 2015, supporting in iduals to protect their health from environmental hazards. It does this by providing (i) location-specific and near real-time air quality, pollen and temperature information and (ii) personal symptom tracking functionality. This research sought to evaluate user perceptions of AirRater’s usability and effectiveness. We collected demographic data and completed semi-structured interviews with 42 AirRater users, identified emergent themes, and used two frameworks designed to understand and support behavior change—the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) and the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM)—to interpret results. Of the 42 participants, almost half indicated that experiencing symptoms acted as a prompt for app use. Information provided by the app supported a majority of the 42 participants to make decisions and implement behaviors to protect their health irrespective of their location or context. The majority of participants also indicated that they shared information provided by the app with family, friends and/or colleagues. The evaluation also identified opportunities to improve the app. Several study limitations were identified, which impacts the generalizability of results beyond the populations studied. Despite these limitations, findings facilitated new insights into motivations for behavior change, and contribute to the existing literature investigating the potential for smartphone apps to support health protection from environmental hazards in a changing climate.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2013
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12104
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-09-2022
Publisher: The American Mosquito Control Association
Date: 03-2009
DOI: 10.2987/08-5814.1
Abstract: We compare the community composition, abundance, and seasonality of mosquito species detected by the encephalitis virus surveillance (EVS) CO2 traps and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps. Traps were run concurrently for a year during routine weekly monitoring in the vicinity of the city of Darwin in northern Australia. The EVS CO2 traps detected far more in iduals than CDC light traps notwithstanding a weaker suction fan, but species richness was similar. Regardless of variation in community composition among sites, differences between trap types were remarkably consistent. Seasonal trends in the abundance of 5 key species from each trap type were similar, but markedly more so in strongly seasonal species. Although EVS CO2 traps outperformed CDC light traps for routine monitoring, the historical transition from the latter to the former is unlikely to have major consequences for the identification of community composition or detection of seasonal trends in key species.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-09-2008
DOI: 10.1007/S00267-007-9006-1
Abstract: We compared measures of ecosystem state across six adjacent land-tenure groups in the intact tropical savanna landscapes of northern Australia. Tenure groups include two managed by Aboriginal owners, two national parks, a cluster of pastoral leases, and a military training area. This information is of relevance to the debate about the role of indigenous lands in the Australian conservation estate. The timing and frequency of fire was determined by satellite imagery the biomass and composition of the herb-layer and the abundance of large feral herbivores by field surveys and weediness by analysis of a Herbarium database. European tenures varied greatly in fire frequencies but were consistently burnt earlier in the dry season than the two Aboriginal tenures, the latter having intermediate fire frequencies. Weeds were more frequent in the European tenures, whilst feral animals were most abundant in the Aboriginal tenures. This variation strongly implies a signature of current management and/or recent environmental history. We identify indices suitable for monitoring of management outcomes in an extensive and sparsely populated landscape. Aboriginal land offers a unique opportunity for the conservation of bio ersity through the maintenance of traditional fire regimes. However, without financial support, traditional practices may prove unsustainable both economically and because exotic weeds and feral animals will alter fire regimes. An additional return on investment in Aboriginal land management is likely to be improved livelihoods and health outcomes for these disadvantaged communities.
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 29-03-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-06-2019
DOI: 10.1111/RESP.13617
Abstract: Long-term respiratory risks following exposure to relatively short periods of poor air quality early in life are unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association between exposure to a 6-week episode of air pollution from a coal mine fire in children aged <2 years, and their lung function 3 years after the fire. We conducted a prospective cohort study. In idual exposure to 24-h average and peak concentrations of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm in diameter (PM Of the 203 infants originally recruited, 84 aged 4.3 ± 0.5 years completed FOT testing. Median (interquartile range, IQR) for average and peak PM Infant exposure to coal mine fire emissions could be associated with long-term impairment of lung reactance.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-01-2014
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1071/BT15259
Abstract: Dry eucalypt forests are believed to be highly fire tolerant, but their response to fire is not well quantified. We measured the effect of high-severity fires in dry eucalypt forest in the Tasmanian Midlands, the driest region on the island. We compared stand structures and fuel loads in long-unburnt ( years since fire) and recently burnt ( years since fire) sites that had been completely defoliated. Even in unburnt plots, 37% of eucalypt stems and 56% of acacia stems ≥5 cm in diameter were dead, possibly because of antecedent drought. The density of live eucalypt stems was 37% lower overall in burnt than in unburnt plots, compared with 78% lower for acacias. Whole-plant mortality caused by fire was estimated at 25% for eucalypt trees and 33% for acacias. Fire stimulated establishment of both eucalypt and acacia seedlings, although some seedlings and saplings were present in long-unburnt plots. The present study confirmed that eucalypts in dry forests are more tolerant of fire than the obligate seeder eucalypts in wet forests. However, there were few live mature stems remaining in some burnt plots, suggesting that dry eucalypt forests could be vulnerable to increasingly frequent, severe fires.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1071/WF17061
Abstract: Prescribed burning is a widely accepted wildfire hazard reduction technique however, knowledge of its effectiveness remains limited. To address this, we employ simulations of a widely used fire behaviour model across the ecologically erse Australian island state of Tasmania. We simulate three broad scenarios: (1) no fuel treatment, (2) a maximal treatment, with the most possible prescribed burning within ecological constraints, and (3) 12 hypothetically more implementable state-wide prescribed-burning plans. In all simulations, we standardised fire-weather inputs to represent regionally typical dangerous fire-weather conditions. Statistical modelling showed that an unrealistically large maximal treatment scenario could reduce fire intensity in three flammable vegetation types, and reduce fire probability in almost every vegetation type. However, leverage analysis of the 12 more-realistic implementable plans indicated that such prescribed burning would have only a minimal effect, if any, on fire extent and that none of these prescribed-burning plans substantially reduced fire intensity. The study highlights that prescribed burning can theoretically mitigate wildfire, but that an unrealistically large area would need to be treated to affect fire behaviour across the island. Rather, optimisation of prescribed burning requires careful landscape design at the local scale. Such designs should be based on improved fire behaviour modelling, empirical measurement of fuels and analysis of actual wildfires.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2018.12.085
Abstract: Limited research has examined the impacts of coal mine fire smoke on human health. The aim of this study was to assess the association between prolonged smoke PM
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-10-2021
DOI: 10.1111/PCE.13916
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 22-10-2018
Abstract: Large vertebrates affect fire regimes in several ways: by consuming plant matter that would otherwise accumulate as fuel by controlling and varying the density of vegetation and by engineering the soil and litter layer. These processes can regulate the frequency, intensity and extent of fire. The evidence for these effects is strongest in environments with intermediate rainfall, warm temperatures and graminoid-dominated ground vegetation. Probably, extinction of Quaternary megafauna triggered increased biomass burning in many such environments. Recent and continuing declines of large vertebrates are likely to be significant contributors to changes in fire regimes and vegetation that are currently being experienced in many parts of the world. To date, rewilding projects that aim to restore large herbivores have paid little attention to the value of large animals in moderating fire regimes. Rewilding potentially offers a powerful tool for managing the risks of wildfire and its impacts on natural and human values. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Trophic rewilding: consequences for ecosystems under global change’.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-06-2016
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12484
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-07-2018
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE1020026
Abstract: During summer in early 2016, over 70 landscape fires in Tasmania (Australia) caused several severe episodes of fire smoke across the island state. To assess the health impact of the fire smoke, a case crossover analysis was performed, which measured the association between increased concentrations of PM2.5 and emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD) from 1 January to 31 March 2016. Control days were matched by latitude and longitude, day of the week and calendar month. Exposure data were obtained from air quality monitoring stations at lag times of 1–48 h and for the 24-h mean on the same day and 1-day lag. Positive associations were observed between an increase of 10 µg/m3 in PM2.5 and EAD for stroke on the same day (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19) and at 1-day lag (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.18). Furthermore, there were non-significant increases in breathing problems (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.00–1.08) and diabetic problems (OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.99–1.22) at 1-day lag. The EAD for all causes were not increased. These findings will be used for ambulance service planning and public health risk communication in future landscape fire events.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-08-2018
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE1020027
Abstract: Sustainable fire management has eluded all industrial societies. Given the growing number and magnitude of wildfire events, prescribed fire is being increasingly promoted as the key to reducing wildfire risk. However, smoke from prescribed fires can adversely affect public health. We propose that the application of air quality standards can lead to the development and adoption of sustainable fire management approaches that lower the risk of economically and ecologically damaging wildfires while improving air quality and reducing climate-forcing emissions. For ex le, green fire breaks at the wildland–urban interface (WUI) can resist the spread of wildfires into urban areas. These could be created through mechanical thinning of trees, and then maintained by targeted prescribed fire to create bio erse and aesthetically pleasing landscapes. The harvested woody debris could be used for pellets and other forms of bioenergy in residential space heating and electricity generation. Collectively, such an approach would reduce the negative health impacts of smoke pollution from wildfires, prescribed fires, and combustion of wood for domestic heating. We illustrate such possibilities by comparing current and potential fire management approaches in the temperate and environmentally similar landscapes of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada and the island state of Tasmania in Australia.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 02-10-2019
Abstract: Heatwaves have been identified as a threat to human health, with this impact projected to rise in a warming climate. Gaps in local knowledge can potentially undermine appropriate policy and preparedness actions. Using a case-crossover methodology, we examined the impact of heatwave events on hospital emergency department (ED) presentations in the two most populous regions of Tasmania, Australia, from 2008–2016. Using conditional logistic regression, we analyzed the relationship between ED presentations and severe/extreme heatwaves for the whole population, specific demographics including age, gender and socio-economic advantage, and diagnostic conditions that are known to be impacted in high temperatures. ED presentations increased by 5% (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01–1.09) across the whole population, by 13% (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.03–1.24) for children 15 years and under, and by 19% (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04–1.36) for children 5 years and under. A less precise association in the same direction was found for those over 65 years. For diagnostic subgroups, non-significant increases in ED presentations were observed for asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation. These findings may assist ED surge capacity planning and public health preparedness and response activities for heatwave events in Tasmania, highlighting the importance of using local research to inform local practice.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/WF19196
Abstract: The present study aimed to determine moisture thresholds for combustion of organic soils s led from various vegetation types at 63 locations in Tasmania, Australia. To observe whether the soil s le sustained smouldering combustion, moisture content was experimentally manipulated and heat was applied. Combustion was primarily determined by moisture content, but was also influenced by soil bulk density and organic content: the gravimetric moisture content corresponding to a 50% probability of burning ranged from 25 to 94% as organic content varied from 34 to 96%. There was no evidence of differences among vegetation types in the relationship between soil combustibility and organic content. Combustion in Tasmanian organic soils occurred with moisture levels similar to those reported elsewhere, despite differences in vegetation and environment. It was also found that a hand-held meter that measured volumetric moisture content using time domain reflectometry could be used to satisfactorily predict organic soil combustion. Finally, combining the data with estimates of volumetric soil moisture based on high-resolution gridded weather data (Bureau of Meteorology Atmospheric high-resolution Regional Reanalysis for Australia, or BARRA), it was demonstrated that most Tasmanian organic soils are likely to be combustible at some time almost every summer (December to February).
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 03-10-2022
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE5050160
Abstract: A neglected dimension of the fire regime concept is fire patchiness. Habitat mosaics that emerge from the grain of burned and unburned patches (pyro ersity) are critical for the persistence of a erse range of plant and animal species. This issue is of particular importance in frequently burned tropical Eucalyptus savannas, where coarse fire mosaics have been hypothesized to have caused the recent drastic population declines of small mammals. Satellites routinely used for fire mapping in these systems are unable to accurately map fine-grained fire mosaics, frustrating our ability to determine whether declines in bio ersity are associated with local pyro ersity. To advance this problem, we have developed a novel method (we call ‘double-differenced dNBR’) that combines the infrequent (c. 16 days) detailed spatial resolution Landsat with daily coarse scale coverage of MODIS and VIIRS to map pyro ersity in the savannas of Kakadu National Park. We used seasonal Landsat mosaics and differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) to define burned areas, with a modification to dNBR that subtracts long-term average dNBR to increase contrast. Our results show this approach is effective in mapping fine-scale fire mosaics in the homogenous lowland savannas, although inappropriate for nearby heterogenous landscapes. Comparison of this methods to other fire metrics (e.g., area burned, seasonality) based on Landsat and MODIS imagery suggest this method is likely accurate and better at quantifying fine-scale patchiness of fire, albeit it demands detailed field validation.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-07-2015
DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS8537
Abstract: Climate strongly influences global wildfire activity, and recent wildfire surges may signal fire weather-induced pyrogeographic shifts. Here we use three daily global climate data sets and three fire danger indices to develop a simple annual metric of fire weather season length, and map spatio-temporal trends from 1979 to 2013. We show that fire weather seasons have lengthened across 29.6 million km 2 (25.3%) of the Earth’s vegetated surface, resulting in an 18.7% increase in global mean fire weather season length. We also show a doubling (108.1% increase) of global burnable area affected by long fire weather seasons ( .0 σ above the historical mean) and an increased global frequency of long fire weather seasons across 62.4 million km 2 (53.4%) during the second half of the study period. If these fire weather changes are coupled with ignition sources and available fuel, they could markedly impact global ecosystems, societies, economies and climate.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 19-07-2023
DOI: 10.20944/PREPRINTS202307.1323.V1
Abstract: Background: We studied Riveaux Road Fire, which was ignited by multiple lightning strikes in January 2019 and burnt more than 637.19 km2 in southern Tasmania, Australia. Aims: We focused on fire weather, such as identification of dynamic wind and vegetation type, in a valley of the study area. Methods: We employed two methods: numerical weather model vertical sounding (NWMVS) and the use of a fire simulator, to quantify and examine the contribution of dynamic winds to fire behaviour. The NWMVSs allow rapid diagnosis of changes in wind, temperature, dew point temperature and cloud coverage. Prototype 2 is a fire simulator based on the specification of Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS). Key results: We found fires to be guided by terrain-forced channelling primarily and by downslope wind conditionally in the valleys. In addition, the fire intensity periodically changed with the magnitude of surface wind, in buttongrass moorland, in which the fire often smoulders, during the fire period according to the satellite image. Conclusions and Implications: Therefore, there should be caution for not only terrain and dynamic wind but also vegetation type during fire spread in rugged terrain.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-05-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-021-01464-6
Abstract: The 2019-20 wildfires in eastern Australia presented a globally important opportunity to evaluate the respective roles of climatic drivers and natural and anthropogenic disturbances in causing high-severity fires. Here, we show the overwhelming dominance of fire weather in causing complete scorch or consumption of forest canopies in natural and plantation forests in three regions across the geographic range of these fires. S ling 32% (2.35 Mha) of the area burnt we found that >44% of the native forests suffered severe canopy damage. Past logging and wildfire disturbance in natural forests had a very low effect on severe canopy damage, reflecting the limited extent logged in the last 25 years (4.5% in eastern Victoria, 5.3% in southern New South Wales (NSW) and 7.8% in northern NSW). The most important variables determining severe canopy damage were broad spatial factors (mostly topographic) followed by fire weather. Timber plantations affected by fire were concentrated in NSW and 26% were burnt by the fires and >70% of the NSW plantations suffered severe canopy damage showing that this intensive means of wood production is extremely vulnerable to wildfire. The massive geographic scale and severity of these Australian fires is best explained by extrinsic factors: an historically anomalous drought coupled with strong, hot dry westerly winds that caused uninterrupted, and often dangerous, fire weather over the entire fire season.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2020
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-11-2016
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 12-04-2018
DOI: 10.3390/LAND7020046
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 30-04-2021
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE4020022
Abstract: Fire risk can be defined as the probability that a fire will spread across a landscape, that therefore determines the likely area burnt by a wildfire. Reliable monitoring of fire risk is essential for effective landscape management. Compilation of fire risk records enable identification of seasonal and inter-annual patterns and provide a baseline to evaluate the trajectories in response to climate change. Typically, fire risk is estimated from meteorological data. In regions with sparse meteorological station coverage environmental proxies provide important additional data source for estimating past and current fire risk. Here, we use a 60-year record of daily flows (ML day−1 past a fixed-point river gauge) from two rivers (Franklin and Davey) in the remote Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) to characterize seasonal patterns in fire risk in temperate Eucalyptus forests and rainforests. We show that river flows are strongly related to landscape soil moisture estimates derived from down-scaled re-analysis of meteorological data available since 1990. To identify river flow thresholds where forests are likely to burn, we relate river flows to known forest fires that have occurred in the previously defined ecohydrological domains that surround the Franklin and Davey catchments. Our analysis shows that the fire season in the TWWHA is centered on February (70% of all years below the median river flow threshold), with shoulders on December-January and March. Since 1954, forest fire can occur in at least one month for all but four summers in the ecohydrological domain that includes the Franklin catchment, and since 1964 fire could occur in at least one month in every summer in the ecohydrological domain that includes the Davey catchment. Our analysis shows that managers can use river flows as a simple index that indicates landscape-scale forest fire risk in the TWWHA.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-07-2019
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE2030042
Abstract: Paleofire studies frequently discount the impact of human activities in past fire regimes. Globally, we know that a common pattern of anthropogenic burning regimes is to burn many small patches at high frequency, thereby generating landscape heterogeneity. Is this type of anthropogenic pyro ersity necessarily obscured in paleofire records because of fundamental limitations of those records? We evaluate this with a cellular automata model designed to replicate different fire regimes with identical fire rotations but different fire frequencies and patchiness. Our results indicate that high frequency patch burning can be identified in tree-ring records at relatively modest s ling intensities. However, standard methods that filter out fires represented by few trees systematically biases the records against patch burning. In simulated fire regime shifts, fading records, s le size, and the contrast between the shifted fire regimes all interact to make statistical identification of regime shifts challenging without other information. Recent studies indicate that integration of information from history, archaeology, or anthropology and paleofire data generate the most reliable inferences of anthropogenic patch burning and fire regime changes associated with cultural changes.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 20-12-2019
DOI: 10.1136/ARCHDISCHILD-2019-317528
Abstract: To evaluate whether vascular health in young children was associated with exposure to a 6-week episode of coal mine fire smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in a retrospective cohort study. Three years after a coal mine fire in Victoria, Australia, we investigated the vascular health of children either in utero (n=75) or aged years (postnatal exposure, n=96) at the time of the fire. The outcomes were the carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV). The mean and peak daily particulate matter .5 µm in diameter (PM 2.5 ) exposures were estimated based on their daily locations throughout the fire period. Multivariable linear regression models were used to test for associations between the fire-related PM 2.5 and outcomes adjusted for relevant covariates including ETS. In the postnatal-exposure group, each 10 µg/m³ increase in mean PM 2.5 level was independently positively associated with PWV (β=0.116, p=0.028). When these two groups were combined, there was an association between mean PM 2.5 and increased PWV in those children who had ETS exposure (β=0.148, p=0.033) or whose mothers smoked (β=0.151, p=0.011), but not in those not exposed to ETS or maternal smoking. Three years after a coal mine fire, infants aged up to 2 years at the time of exposure have increases in vascular stiffness. Although no adverse effects were observed in the in uterus exposure group, further follow-up study is needed to elucidate the long-term effects of coal mine fire smoke exposure.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-2011
DOI: 10.3155/1047-3289.61.4.390
Abstract: Epidemiological studies of exposure to vegetation fire smoke are often limited by the availability of accurate exposure data. This paper describes a systematic framework for retrospectively identifying the cause of air pollution events to facilitate a long, multicenter analysis of the public health effects of vegetation fire smoke pollution in Australia. Pollution events were statistically defined as any day at or above the 95th percentile of the 24-hr average concentration of particulate matter (PM). These were identified for six cities from three distinct ecoclimatic regions of Australia. The dates of each event were then crosschecked against a range of information sources, including online newspaper archives, government and research agency records, satellite imagery, and aerosol optical thickness measures to identify the cause for the excess particulate pollution. Pollution events occurred most frequently during summer for cities in subtropical and arid regions and during winter for cities in temperate regions. A cause for high PM on 67% of days examined in the city of Sydney was found, and 94% of these could be attributed to landscape fire smoke. Results were similar for cities in other subtropical and arid locations. Identification of the cause of pollution events was much lower in colder temperate regions where fire activity is less frequent. Bushfires were the most frequent cause of extreme pollution events in cities located in subtropical and arid regions of Australia. Although identification of pollution episodes was greatly improved by the use of multiple sources of information, satellite imagery was the most useful tool for identifying bushfire smoke pollution events.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-02-2017
Abstract: Extreme wildfires have substantial economic, social and environmental impacts, but there is uncertainty whether such events are inevitable features of the Earth's fire ecology or a legacy of poor management and planning. We identify 478 extreme wildfire events defined as the daily clusters of fire radiative power from MODIS, within a global 10 × 10 km lattice, between 2002 and 2013, which exceeded the 99.997th percentile of over 23 million cases of the ΣFRP 100 km
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1071/WR10174
Abstract: Context Some large herbivores introduced to Australia have achieved population densities so high as to cause considerable ecological damage. Intriguingly, others have been relatively less successful and have correspondingly perturbed their new environments less. An excellent ex le is two similar-sized bovine species that established feral populations in the Northern Territory of Australia in the mid-19th century. Asian sw buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) rapidly colonised the tropical savannas, causing ecological degradation, especially on freshwater sw s. In contrast, banteng (Bos javanicus) are restricted to their point of introduction and have caused relatively negligible ecological damage. Understanding the reasons of this differential success is of theoretical and applied interest and contributes to managing large herbivore populations for ex situ conservation and feral-animal control. Aims To compare the population structure of buffalo and banteng on the basis of shot s les, so as to construct life tables for four contemporary (low-density) buffalo populations, and collated data from previous work from three historical (high-density) buffalo populations and one banteng population (the only extant ex situ population in existence). Further, to provide a validation of age estimation with and without informed priors in a Bayesian model comparing horn length and ages estimated from tooth cementum annuli. Finally, to interpret our results in the context of relative invasion potential of the two bovid species. Key Results For both species, survival of juveniles was the most important demographic component influencing deterministic population growth. However, buffalo have the demographic capacity to recover swiftly after control because of high survival and fertility rates across a range of population densities. Fertility of buffalo was historically greater than that of banteng, and buffalo fertility increased as their populations were reduced. Conclusions These findings highlight how subtle differences in demographic rates and feeding ecology can influence the success (high population growth and range expansion) of large herbivores, knowledge which is increasingly important for managing invasive species effectively. Implications We show that that in idual life-history traits and demographic performance, especially fertility, play an important role in determining the spread of invasive bovids in a novel environment.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.1071/WR13206
Abstract: Context Since the introduction of fallow deer (Dama dama) to Tasmania in the early 1830s, the management of the species has been conflicted the species is partially protected as a recreational hunting resource, yet simultaneously recognised as an invasive species because of its environmental impact and the biosecurity risk that it poses. The range and abundance of fallow deer in Tasmania has evidently increased over the past three decades. In the 1970s, it was estimated that ~7000–8000 deer were distributed in three distinct subpopulations occupying a region of ~400 000 ha (generally centred around the original introduction sites). By the early 2000s, the estimated population size had more than tripled to ~20 000–30 000 deer occupying 2.1 million ha. No study has attempted to predict what further growth in this population is likely. Aims The purpose of our study was to provide a preliminary estimate of the future population range and abundance of fallow deer in Tasmania under different management scenarios. Methods We developed a spatially explicit, deterministic population model for fallow deer in Tasmania, based on estimates of demographic parameters linked to a species distribution model. Spatial variation in abundance was incorporated into the model by setting carrying capacity as a function of climate suitability. Key results On the basis of a conservative estimate of population growth for the species, and without active management beyond the current policy of hunting and crop protection permits, abundance of fallow deer is estimated to increase substantially in the next 10 years. Uncontrolled, the population could exceed 1 million animals by the middle of the 21st century. This potential increase is a function both of local increase in abundance and extension of range. Conclusions Our results identify areas at high risk of impact from fallow deer in the near future, including ecologically sensitive areas of Tasmania (e.g. the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area). Implications The research approach and results are presented as a contribution to debate and decisions about the management of fallow deer in Tasmania. In particular, they provide a considered basis for anticipating future impacts of deer in Tasmania and prioritising management to mitigate impact in ecologically sensitive areas.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-08-2020
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE3030040
Abstract: In the southern hemisphere summer of 2019–20, Australia experienced its most severe bushfire season on record. Smoke from fires affected 80% of the population, with large and prolonged exceedances of the Australian National Air Quality Standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) recorded in all major population centers. We examined if AirRater, a free smartphone app that reports air quality and tracks user symptoms in near real-time, assisted those populations to reduce their smoke exposure and protect their health. We distributed an online survey to over 13,000 AirRater users to assess how they used this information during the 2019–20 bushfire season, and why it was helpful to aid decision-making in reducing personal smoke exposure. We received responses from 1732 users (13.3%). Respondents reported the app was highly useful, supporting informed decision-making regarding daily activities during the smoke-affected period. Commonly reported activities supported by information provided through the app were staying inside (76%), rescheduling or planning outdoor activities (64%), changing locations to less affected areas (29%) and informing decisions on medication use (15%). Innovative and easy-to-use smartphone apps such as AirRater, that provide in idual-level and location-specific data, can enable users to reduce their exposure to environmental hazards and therefore protect their health.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 21-07-2023
DOI: 10.20944/PREPRINTS202307.1448.V1
Abstract: Although mountain areas account for approximately one fifth of the terrestrial surface, there has been less research focused on fire in these areas compared to lowlands. Mountain fires have distinct behavior due to dynamic winds interacting with the terrain, which can influence the fireline intensity and propagation. For the sake of fire safety of fire crews, it is essential to know how difficult to control the fire is in the mountain regions, with fireline intensity providing a useful indicator of risk and suppressibility. We studied one of the major disasters, wildfire, in Australia in such a highland by using the Great Pine Tier Fire, which occurred 15th January in 2019, ending up burning approximately 511.86km2. Weather and fire intensity at pseudo weather stations located at key points of fire progression were analyzed by wind vector maps and numerical weather model vertical sounding (NWMVS). Fire propagation was then simulated in Prototype 2, a fire simulator capable of detecting the potential for lateral fire channeling (LFC), and simulating fireline intensity using Australian vegetation sub-models. We found that the synoptic wind appeared to be modified by the interaction with the terrain in windward and the fire intensified the most in its leeward. In practice, the fire moved out of the valley axis and up its sidehill by following the wind which had been modified by local vertex of the curved valley axis before reaching this location.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-09-2014
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12239
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-01-2014
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.12433
Abstract: 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 weather. High-severity fires removed 25% of aboveground tree biomass, and switched fuel arrays from low loads of herbaceous and litter fuels to high loads of flammable shrubs and juvenile trees, priming regenerating stands for subsequent fires. Single high-severity fires caused adult mortality and triggered mass regeneration, but a second fire in quick succession killed 97% of the regenerating alpine ash. Our results indicate that without interventions to reduce fire severity, interactions between flammability of regenerating stands and increased extreme fire weather will eliminate much of the remaining mature alpine ash forest.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1071/BT16087
Abstract: The World Heritage wilderness of south-western Tasmania contains a complex vegetation mosaic of eucalypt forest, myrtaceous scrub and fire-sensitive rainforest embedded in highly flammable sedge–heathland. Aboriginal burning shaped this temperate region for millennia, and large, severe wildfires have prevailed since European settlement in the early 19th century. In 2013, the Giblin River fire burnt 45 000 ha of wilderness, most of which was sedge-heathland. We surveyed the fire footprint, and an adjacent management burn, to investigate the drivers of fire severity in sedge-heathland and to assess the regeneration response of woody vegetation and how these were influenced by antecedent fire histories. Analyses based on multi-model inference identified time since fire as the most important driver of sedge-heathland fire severity, as measured by diameter of burnt twigs. Mortality was high for both main stems (98%) and whole plants (91%), with only 16% of dead stems resprouting. Resprouting and seedling establishment were little affected by fire severity. The value of prescribed burning in reducing both the extent and severity of wildfires in the south-western Tasmanian landscape, and in maintaining stand-age heterogeneity, is illustrated by the wildfire having self-extinguished on the boundary of the management burn.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-08-2020
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 12-2016
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-06-2016
Abstract: Humans use combustion for heating and cooking, managing lands, and, more recently, for fuelling the industrial economy. As a shift to fossil-fuel-based energy occurs, we expect that anthropogenic biomass burning in open landscapes will decline as it becomes less fundamental to energy acquisition and livelihoods. Using global data on both fossil fuel and biomass burning emissions, we tested this relationship over a 14 year period (1997–2010). The global average annual carbon emissions from biomass burning during this time were 2.2 Pg C per year (±0.3 s.d.), approximately one-third of fossil fuel emissions over the same period (7.3 Pg C, ±0.8 s.d.). There was a significant inverse relationship between average annual fossil fuel and biomass burning emissions. Fossil fuel emissions explained 8% of the variation in biomass burning emissions at a global scale, but this varied substantially by land cover. For ex le, fossil fuel burning explained 31% of the variation in biomass burning in woody savannas, but was a non-significant predictor for evergreen needleleaf forests. In the land covers most dominated by human use, croplands and urban areas, fossil fuel emissions were more than 30- and 500-fold greater than biomass burning emissions. This relationship suggests that combustion practices may be shifting from open landscape burning to contained combustion for industrial purposes, and highlights the need to take into account how humans appropriate combustion in global modelling of contemporary fire. Industrialized combustion is not only an important driver of atmospheric change, but also an important driver of landscape change through companion declines in human-started fires. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-04-2015
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.1494
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-08-2009
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-11-2011
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.70
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 21-07-2023
DOI: 10.20944/PREPRINTS202307.1502.V1
Abstract: Mountain fire can become more complex than fires at lower elevation due to the complex interaction of fire, topography, and weather. The Gell River Fire in Tasmania, Australia occurred in rugged terrain where there are abundant fire sensitive vegetation communities, as well as the presence of infrastructure including high-voltage transmission lines. The fire began at the end of December 2018 and lasted a few months, with a final burnt area of approximately 350km2 despite significant fire suppression effort. The fire was investigated by employing wind vector maps, numerical weather model vertical sounding charts (NWMVS) and Prototype 2, which is an integrated fire simulator and can detect lateral fire channeling (LFC). Our analysis of the fire found its spread was likely to be introduced into a valley by forced channeling (FC), which is modified synoptic wind, and showed rapid spread in the valley. The simulated fire also showed wider spread than the observed data in the valley, with the simulated fire impacting highly sensitive vegetation communities on the fringes of the valley. This alludes to some potential conclusions: (1) The loss of fire sensitive vegetation would have increased if fire suppression activity had not been conducted. (2) Spotting fires could be produced by LFC because these spotting fire would allow spreading fire in a shorter period. (3) Heterogeneity of vegetation, such as combination of buttongrass and forest, could help carry fire rapidly in the valley with LFC. Fire can propagate faster in buttongrass than in forests while the forests allow the spotting fire.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 21-08-2017
Abstract: Fire is a key ecological process affecting ecosystem dynamics and services, driven primarily by variations in fuel amount and condition, ignition patterns, and climate. In the Southern Hemisphere, current warming conditions are linked to the upward trend in the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) due to ozone depletion. Here we use tree ring fire scar data obtained from erse biomes ranging from subtropical dry woodlands to sub-Antarctic rainforests to assess the effect of the SAM on regional fire activity over the past several centuries. Our findings reveal a tight coupling between fire activity and the SAM at all temporal scales and in all biomes, with increased wildfire synchrony and activity during the 20th century compared with previous centuries.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-12-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-03-2018
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13199
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-02-0009
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13797
Abstract: Sphagnum bogs in Australia are small, with a limited distribution, but of high conservation value. They are restricted to cool, wet environments that are typically fire free and are poorly adapted to recover from fire disturbance, unlike most Australian flora. Increased fire activity due to anthropogenic climate change is threatening Sphagnum bogs. This increased threat has stimulated interest in their restoration. Compared with the northern hemisphere, there have been few studies of the ecology of Sphagnum restoration in the southern hemisphere. Here, we report on a field experiment in Tasmania, in an area burned by an extensive fire in 2016. We investigated the role of shade, fertilizer and transplants, factors demonstrated to be important in the restoration of burnt bogs on the Australian mainland. Treatments commenced three to 4 years after the fire. Overall, we found that fire‐damaged Sphagnum recovers very slowly, and that there was no recovery in severely burned areas. The addition of shade increased recovery of damaged Sphagnum , but fertilizer was harmful, even to healthy Sphagnum . Transplants in fire‐killed Sphagnum grew poorly in both moderately and severely burnt Sphagnum areas. Our findings support the use of shading in post‐fire Sphagnum recovery projects, although further work is required to determine the optimal approach and duration of providing shade.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-05-2011
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 20-07-2022
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE5040104
Abstract: Wildfires are not only a natural part of many ecosystems, but they can also have disastrous consequences for humans, including in Australia. Rugged terrain adds to the difficulty of predicting fire behavior and fire spread, as fires often propagate contrary to expectations. Even though fire models generally incorporate weather, fuels, and topography, which are important factors affecting fire behavior, they usually only consider the surface wind however, the more elevated winds should also be accounted for, in addition to surface winds, when predicting fire spread in rugged terrain because valley winds are often dynamically altered by the interaction of a layered atmosphere and the topography. Here, fire spread in rugged terrain was examined in a case study of the Riveaux Road Fire, which was ignited by multiple lightning strikes in January 2019 in southern Tasmania, Australia and burnt approximately 637.19 km2. Firstly, the number of conducive wind structures, which are defined as the combination of wind and temperature layers likely to result in enhanced surface wind, were counted by examining the vertical wind structure of the atmosphere, and the potential for above-surface winds to affect fire propagation was identified. Then, the multiple fire propagations were simulated using a new fire simulator (Prototype 2) motivated by the draft specification of the forthcoming new fire danger rating system, the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS). Simulations were performed with one experiment group utilizing wind fields that included upper-air interactions, and two control groups that utilized downscaled wind from a model that only incorporated surface winds, to identify the impact of upper air interactions. Consequently, a detailed analysis showed that more conducive structures were commonly observed in the rugged terrain than in the other topography. In addition, the simulation of the experiment group performed better in predicting fire spread than those of the control groups in rugged terrain. In contrast, the control groups based on the downscaled surface wind model performed well in less rugged terrain. These results suggest that not only surface winds but also the higher altitude winds above the surface are required to be considered, especially in rugged terrain.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-04-2013
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-09-2020
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-09-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2020
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 07-11-2022
DOI: 10.1071/WF22099
Abstract: Background Information c aigns about bushfire preparedness are often based on the assumption that residents of bushfire-prone neighbourhoods underestimate their risk. However, there are complex relationships between bushfire hazard, perceived risk and adaptive action. Aims We investigate how residents’ understanding of bushfire risk relates to biophysical risk in the City of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia’s most fire-prone state capital. Methods A transdisciplinary case study using a survey of 406 residents living close to the wildland–urban interface, focus groups in four bushfire-prone neighbourhoods, and geospatial fire risk assessment. Key results Neighbourhood concern about bushfire is statistically associated with biophysical measurement of local bushfire risk. This awareness does not necessarily translate into adaptive action, in part because residents underestimate the risk to their homes from fuels on their own property and overestimate the risk from bushland and neighbouring properties, leading to a common response that preparing for bushfire is futile if your neighbours do not also prepare. Neighbourhoods with high levels of positive community interaction, however, are more likely to access preparedness information, and develop fire-adaptive behaviours. Conclusions/Implications Our findings highlight the need for social adaptation pathways using local communication interventions to build the neighbourhood knowledge, networks and capacities that enable community-led bushfire preparedness.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-02-2018
DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2018.1426911
Abstract: This study used medicolegal data to investigate fatal older road user (ORU) crash circumstances and risk factors relating to four key components of the Safe System approach (e.g., roads and roadsides, vehicles, road users, and speeds) to identify areas of priority for targeted prevention activity. The Coroners Court of Victoria's Surveillance Database was searched to identify coronial records with at least one deceased ORU in the state of Victoria, Australia, for 2013-2014. Information relating to the ORU, crash characteristics and circumstances, and risk factors was extracted and analyzed. The average rate of fatal ORU crashes per 100,000 population was 8.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.0-10.2), which was more than double the average rate of fatal middle-aged road user crashes (3.6, 95% CI 2.5-4.6). There was a significant relationship between age group and deceased road user type (χ Road user error was the most significant risk factor identified in fatal ORU crashes, which suggests that there is a limited capacity of the Victorian road system to fully accommodate road user errors. Initiatives related to safer roads and roadsides, vehicles, and speed zones, as well as behavioral approaches, are key areas of priority for targeted activity to prevent fatal older road user crashes in the future.
Start Date: 2010
End Date: 2010
Funder: University of Tasmania
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2020
End Date: 2021
Funder: Dept of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (Vic)
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2015
End Date: 2017
Funder: National Health & Medical Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2015
End Date: 2015
Funder: Parks Victoria
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2018
End Date: 2018
Funder: University of Tasmania
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2018
End Date: 2018
Funder: ACT Health
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2018
End Date: 2018
Funder: Environment Protection Authority Victoria
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2018
End Date: 2018
Funder: Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NT)
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2019
End Date: 2020
Funder: Department of Health Western Australia
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2019
End Date: 2019
Funder: ACT Health
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2019
End Date: 2019
Funder: Department of Health (Tasmania)
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2020
End Date: 2020
Funder: Northern Territory Dept of Health
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2016
End Date: 2016
Funder: Centre for Air Quality and Health Research Evaluation
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2015
End Date: 2016
Funder: University of Tasmania
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2017
End Date: 2017
Funder: Centre for Air Quality and Health Research Evaluation
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2017
End Date: 2017
Funder: Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRC
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2017
End Date: 2017
Funder: Centre for Air Quality and Health Research Evaluation
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2022
End Date: 10-2025
Amount: $485,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity