ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1996-3694
Current Organisation
University of Nottingham
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Natural Hazards | Quaternary Environments | Forestry Fire Management | Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
Conserving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage | Natural Hazards in Forest and Woodlands Environments | Forest and Woodlands Land Management |
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 05-2018
DOI: 10.1029/2017JG004136
Publisher: University of California Press
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1525/ELEMENTA.019
Abstract: Waterways in the Southern Hemisphere, including on the Australian continent, are facing increasing levels of mercury contamination due to industrialization, agricultural intensification, energy production, urbanization, and mining. Mercury contamination undermines the use of waterways as a source of potable water and also has a deleterious effect on aquatic organisms. When developing management strategies to reduce mercury levels in waterways, it is crucial to set appropriate targets for the mitigation of these contaminated waterways. These mitigation targets could be (1) trigger values or default guideline values provided by water and sediment quality guidelines or (2) background (pre-industrialization) levels of mercury in waterways or sediments. The aims of this study were to (1) quantify the differences between existing environmental guideline values for mercury in freshwater lakes and background mercury concentrations and (2) determine the key factors affecting the spatial differences in background mercury concentrations in freshwater lake systems in Australia. Mercury concentrations were measured in background sediments from 21 lakes in Australia. These data indicate that background mercury concentrations in lake sediments can vary significantly across the continent and are up to nine times lower than current sediment quality guidelines in Australia and New Zealand. This indicates that if waterway managers are aiming to restore systems to ‘pre-industrialization’ mercury levels, it is highly important to quantify the site-specific background mercury concentration. Organic matter and precipitation were the main factors correlating with background mercury concentrations in lake sediments. We also found that the geology of the lake catchment correlates to the background mercury concentration of lake sediments. The highest mercury background concentrations were found in lakes in igneous mafic intrusive regions and the lowest in areas underlain by regolith. Taking into account these findings, we provide a preliminary map of predicted background mercury sediment concentrations across Australia that could be used by waterway managers for determining management targets.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-06-2019
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13628
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-11-2022
Abstract: Mining has been a major contributor to economic development in Australia since British arrival in the late 1700s, with little to no thought regarding the long-term environmental consequences. This study assesses the metal pollution legacy caused by different smelting methods and mining activities during the British colonialism in western Tasmania. This region was the largest copper producer in the Southern Hemisphere during the 20th century. Lake sediments from Basin Lake and Owen Tarn, 12 and 5 km from Queenstown’s mines, respectively, were used to reconstruct historical metal contamination. Temporal changes in metal concentrations (iron, copper, arsenic, selenium and lead) were assessed in relation to the scale of mining activities and the technologies used. Sedimentation rates and metal influxes increased from 1900, reflecting the beginning of copper mining in Mount Lyell. Observed metal concentrations peaked after 1930, coinciding with the introduction of large-scale open-cut operations and an expansion of the mining machinery used. All elements underwent at least minor enrichment (EF 1-3) during the lifespan of the mine, with lead and copper undergoing extremely severe enrichment (EF 50). Although smelters contributed to metal increases in the lakes, large open-cut large operations in the 1930s contributed most to metal contamination. Local metal deposition from mining-related activities decreased significantly once operations decreased, with selenium and arsenic decreasing nearly to background levels within 50 years. Lead and copper, the elements which underwent major enrichment, have not yet reached background values. The ecological consequences include the current degraded local landscape, poor water quality and disrupted local biota. Knowledge about the environmental impacts of mining in western Tasmania is less known compared to other sites around the world with a similar history. Our results demonstrate the urgent need to develop better policies and remediation programs that can mitigate the consequences of metal pollution from abandoned mines in Australia.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 12-06-2019
DOI: 10.5194/SD-25-1-2019
Abstract: Abstract. A 70 m long continental sediment record was recovered at Darwin Crater in western Tasmania, Australia. The sediment succession includes a pre-lake silty sand deposit overlain by lacustrine silts that have accumulated in the ∼816 ka meteorite impact crater. A total of 160 m of overlapping sediment cores were drilled from three closely spaced holes. Here we report on the drilling operations at Darwin Crater and present the first results from petrophysical whole core logging, lithological core description, and multi-proxy pilot analysis of core end s les. The multi-proxy dataset includes spectrophotometry, grain size, natural gamma rays, paleo- and rock magnetism, loss on ignition, and pollen analyses. The results provide clear signatures of alternating, distinctly different lithologies likely representing glacial and interglacial sediment facies. Initial paleomagnetic analysis indicate normal magnetic polarity in the deepest core at Hole B. If acquired at the time of deposition, this result indicates that the sediment 1 m below commencement of lacustrine deposition post-date the Matuyama–Brunhes geomagnetic reversal ∼773 ka.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-02-2022
DOI: 10.1002/FEE.2395
Abstract: Recent catastrophic fires in Australia and North America have raised broad‐scale questions about how the cessation of Indigenous burning practices has impacted fuel accumulation and structure. For sustainable coexistence with fire, a better understanding of the ancient nexus between humans and flammable landscapes is needed. We used novel palaeoecological modeling and charcoal compilations to reassess evidence for changes in land cover and fire activity, focusing on southeast Australia before and after British colonization. Here, we provide what we believe is the first quantitative evidence that the region’s forests and woodlands contained fewer shrubs and more grass before colonization. Changes in vegetation, fuel structures, and connectivity followed different trajectories in different vegetation types. The pattern is best explained by the disruption of Indigenous vegetation management caused by European settlement. Combined with climate‐change impacts on fire weather and drought, the widespread absence of Indigenous fire management practices likely preconditioned fire‐prone regions for wildfires of unprecedented extent.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-06-2017
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13040
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 28-05-2018
DOI: 10.1029/2018GL078294
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2018.11.241
Abstract: This study investigated metal contamination from historical mining in lakes in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) and surrounding region. The largest increase in sedimentation and metal contamination occurred ca. 1930 when open-cut mining commenced and new mining technology was introduced into the region. The geochemical signal of lake sediments changed from reflecting the underlying geology and lithology to that reflecting mining activities. The HYSPLIT air particle trajectory model explains metal distribution in the lakes, with those in the northwest region closest to the mines having the highest metal contamination. Lake metal concentrations since mining activities commenced are in the order: Owen Tarn > Basin Lake > Perched Lake > Lake Dove > Lake Dobson > Lake Cygnus, with Perched Lake and Lakes Dove, Dobson and Cygnus in the TWWHA. Metal contamination affected centres up to 130 km down-wind of mining sites. Enrichment factors (EF) for Pb, Cu, As and Cd are >1 for all lakes, with Owen Tarn and Basin Lake having very high EFs for Cu and Pb (98 and 91, respectively). Pb, Cu, As and Cd concentrations are above the Australia/New Zealand lower sediment guidelines, with Pb, Cu and As above the high guidelines in Owen Tarn and Basin Lake. This study demonstrated the legacy of metal contamination in the TWWHA by mining activities and the consequences of a lack of execution of environmental regulations by past governments in Tasmania.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-12-2021
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13232
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 15-02-2018
DOI: 10.1130/G39661.1
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 27-10-2017
DOI: 10.1130/G39705.1
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 19-10-2016
DOI: 10.1002/2016GL070572
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-09-2021
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE4030061
Abstract: The catastrophic 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires were the worst fire season in the recorded history of Southeast Australia. These bushfires were one of several recent global conflagrations across landscapes that are homelands of Indigenous peoples, homelands that were invaded and colonised by European nations over recent centuries. The subsequent suppression and cessation of Indigenous landscape management has had profound social and environmental impacts. The Black Summer bushfires have brought Indigenous cultural burning practices to the forefront as a potential management tool for mitigating climate-driven catastrophic bushfires in Australia. Here, we highlight new research that clearly demonstrates that Indigenous fire management in Southeast Australia produced radically different landscapes and fire regimes than what is presently considered “natural”. We highlight some barriers to the return of Indigenous fire management to Southeast Australian landscapes. We argue that to adequately address the potential for Indigenous fire management to inform policy and practice in managing Southeast Australian forest landscapes, scientific approaches must be decolonized and shift from post-hoc engagement with Indigenous people and perspectives to one of collaboration between Indigenous communities and scientists.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-07-2019
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.3114
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-06-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13555
Abstract: Historically, wildfire regimes produced important landscape‐scale disturbances in many regions globally. The “pyro ersity begets bio ersity” hypothesis suggests that wildfires that generate temporally and spatially heterogeneous mosaics of wildfire severity and post‐burn recovery enhance bio ersity at landscape scales. However, river management has often led to channel incision that disconnects rivers from their floodplains, desiccating floodplain habitats and depleting groundwater. In conjunction with predicted increases in frequency, intensity and extent of wildfires under climate change, this increases the likelihood of deep, uniform burns that reduce bio ersity. Recent focus on floodplain re‐wetting and restoration of successional floodplain habitat mosaics, developed for river management and flood prevention, could reduce wildfire intensity in restored floodplains and make the burns less uniform, increasing climate‐change resilience an important synergy. According to theory, this would also enhance bio ersity. However, this possibility is yet to be tested empirically. We suggest potential research avenues. We illustrate the interaction between wildfire and river restoration using a restoration project in Oregon, USA. A project to reconnect the South Fork McKenzie River and its floodplain suffered a major burn (“Holiday Farm” wildfire, 2020), offering a rare opportunity to study the interaction between this type of river restoration and wildfire specifically, the predicted increases in pyro ersity and bio ersity. Given the importance of river and wetland ecosystems for bio ersity globally, a research priority should be to increase our understanding of potential mechanisms for a “triple win” of flood reduction, wildfire alleviation and bio ersity promotion.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 08-02-2021
DOI: 10.1017/QUA.2020.117
Abstract: Debate about the nature of climate and the magnitude of ecological change across Australia during the last glacial maximum (LGM 26.5–19 ka) persists despite considerable research into the late Pleistocene. This is partly due to a lack of detailed paleoenvironmental records and reliable chronological frameworks. Geochemical and geochronological analyses of a 60 ka sedimentary record from Brown Lake, subtropical Queensland, are presented and considered in the context of climate-controlled environmental change. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of dune crests adjacent to prominent wetlands across North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) returned a mean age of 119.9 ± 10.6 ka indicating relative dune stability soon after formation in Marine Isotope Stage 5. Synthesis of wetland sediment geochemistry across the island was used to identify dust accumulation and applied as an aridification proxy over the last glacial-interglacial cycle. A positive trend of dust deposition from ca. 50 ka was found with highest influx occurring leading into the LGM. Complexities of comparing sedimentary records and the need for robust age models are highlighted with local variation influencing the accumulation of exogenic material. An inter-site comparison suggests enhanced moisture stress regionally during the last glaciation and throughout the LGM, returning to a more positive moisture balance ca. 8 ka.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-11-2021
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 08-02-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.07.527551
Abstract: Human activity has fundamentally altered wildfire on Earth, creating serious consequences for human health, global bio ersity, and climate change. However, it remains difficult to predict fire interactions with land use, management, and climate change, representing a serious knowledge gap and vulnerability. We used expert assessment to combine opinions about past and future fire regimes from 98 wildfire researchers. We asked for quantitative and qualitative assessments of the frequency, type, and implications of fire regime change from the beginning of the Holocene through the year 2300. Respondents indicated that direct human activity was already influencing wildfires locally since at least ~ 12,000 years BP, though natural climate variability remained the dominant driver of fire regime until around 5000 years BP. Responses showed a ten-fold increase in the rate of wildfire regime change during the last 250 years compared with the rest of the Holocene, corresponding first with the intensification and extensification of land use and later with anthropogenic climate change. Looking to the future, fire regimes were predicted to intensify, with increases in fire frequency, severity, and/or size in all biomes except grassland ecosystems. Fire regime showed quite different climate sensitivities across biomes, but the likelihood of fire regime change increased with higher greenhouse gas emission scenarios for all biomes. Bio ersity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services were predicted to decrease for most biomes under higher emission scenarios. We present recommendations for adaptation and mitigation under emerging fire regimes, concluding that management options are seriously constrained under higher emission scenarios.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-03-2019
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14609
Abstract: Climate change is affecting the distribution of species and the functioning of ecosystems. For species that are slow growing and poorly dispersed, climate change can force a lag between the distributions of species and the geographic distributions of their climatic envelopes, exposing species to the risk of extinction. Climate also governs the resilience of species and ecosystems to disturbance, such as wildfire. Here we use species distribution modelling and palaeoecology to assess and test the impact of vegetation-climate disequilibrium on the resilience of an endangered fire-sensitive rainforest community to fires. First, we modelled the probability of occurrence of Athrotaxis spp. and Nothofagus gunnii rainforest in Tasmania (hereon "montane rainforest") as a function of climate. We then analysed three pollen and charcoal records spanning the last 7,500 cal year BP from within both high (n = 1) and low (n = 2) probability of occurrence areas. Our study indicates that climatic change between 3,000 and 4,000 cal year bp induced a disequilibrium between montane rainforests and climate that drove a loss of resilience of these communities. Current and future climate change are likely to shift the geographic distribution of the climatic envelopes of this plant community further, suggesting that current high-resilience locations will face a reduction in resilience. Coupled with the forecast of increasing fire activity in southern temperate regions, this heralds a significant threat to this and other slow growing, poorly dispersed and fire sensitive forest systems that are common in the southern mid to high latitudes.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Start Date: 05-2021
End Date: 05-2024
Amount: $454,044.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
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