A study of Tianchi Lake sediments shows that warfare, rather than natural factors, became the primary driver of increased fire occurrences along the Silk Road over the past 2,000 years. Impact of War on Fire Frequency Along the Silk Road Human activities such as intentional burning, agriculture, p
Tree hollows are an important landscape resource used by fauna for shelter, nesting, and predator avoidance. In fire-prone landscapes, wildfire and climate may impact hollow dynamics; however, assessments of their concurrent impacts are rare. We conducted a field survey at 80 sites in the Sydney Basin bioregion (Australia) to understand how fire frequency, fire severity, mean annual temperature, and mean annual precipitation concurrently impacted the site-density of small- (<5 cm entry>width), medium- (5–10 cm entry width) and large-size (>10 cm entry width) tree hollows and tree basal scars (which mediate hollow formation via invertebrate access to heartwood), when tree-size and dead/live status were considered. A unimodal relationship occurred between medium- and large-sized hollow densities and fire frequency and severity, respectively, with hollow densities greatest at intermediate frequencies/severities. Increases of 1.82, 1.43, and 1.17 hollows per site were observed b
The iconic Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) is a critically endangered Australian conifer and one of the world’s rarest trees with only 46 mature individuals remaining in the wild. The species is regarded as a “living fossil” and was discovered on the brink of extinction following a natural historical decline. While its discovery has enabled crucial intervention for its long-term conservation, it has also created novel threats. Wollemia nobilis is facing extinction in the wild due to its highly restricted distribution, extremely small population size, and ongoing impacts from exotic pathogens, inappropriate fire regimes, unauthorized site visitation, and anthropogenic climate change. A highly successful, collaborative program combining in situ management, ecological research and monitoring with public education and ex situ conservation strategies, such as translocation and commercial cultivation, is enhancing the species’ long-term survival. The extended longevity and slow growt
Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and size of fire events due to longer and more sustained droughts and heatwaves. The potential for regeneration of plants from seeds in fire-prone regions that will be impacted by climate change is due to (1) changes in the environmental conditions experienced by parent plants, seeds, and seedlings, and (2) changes in the fire regime. One of the clearest projections of the impacts of climate change is the switching of fire regimes away from historic patterns, which is likely to cause changes in species abundance and persistence and associated changes in community composition. In the worst scenario, shifts in fire regime will increase the risk of local extinction. Further understanding the response of species to climate-driven shifts, particularly in the context of shorter intervals between fires, will help us predict which species will persist and which may decline in number of individuals under climate change and provide some guid
Wildfires are prevalent across Australian landscapes and their effects on plants are highly variable. Climate change has already caused an extensive fire season in 2019-20 in eastern Australia and frequency and intensity of fires is predicted to further increase into the future. These dynamic changes in the fire regime places plant species, even those with fire-adapted traits, at risk of population decline or extinction. A fundamental aspect of fire-plant relationships is understanding the plant-responses and processes that cause change when related to fire. This hinges on the species, size and age specifics of individual plants. Plants can be broadly categorised as resprouters or seeders. Resprouters are able to survive fire through resprouting new shoots, while seeder species are typically more sensitive to fire and persist through recruitment. However, time between fire events must be sufficient to allow these species to reach reproductive maturity. Thus, it is critical to highlight