Applying Macroecology to Assist in the Management of Kakadu National Park
Project Team: Prof David Bowman (University of Tasmania), Prof Barry Brook (University of Adelaide), Dr Lynda Prior
Funding: ARC Linkage Grant
Partners: Parks Australia North
The ecological integrity of Kakadu National Park is threatened by fires, weeds, and feral animals. To help tackle these problems, we need to know the relative importance of these threats in the Park’s major ecosystems. Changes in the boundaries of lowland rainforest, Allosyncarpia closed forest, woodland, paperbark forest and grassland over the last 40 years were assessed using aerial photography. This was complemented by on-ground assessment of vegetation, focussing on rainforest boundaries. We assessed the effect of broad-scale land management interventions, and predicted the consequences of future change. The findings of this study are transferable to other landscape settings in Australia and overseas. It will contribute to debates about the ecological consequences of current land management practices and how these compare with past Aboriginal land management.
- Bowman, D.M.J.S., Riley, J.E., Boggs, G.S., Lehmann, C.E.R., Prior, L.D. (in press) Do feral buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) explain the increase of woody cover in savannas of Kakadu National Park? Journal of Biogeography
- Banfai, D.S., Brook B.W. and Bowman D.M.J.S. 2007. Multi-scale modelling of the drivers of rainforest boundary dynamics in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Biodiversity and Distributions 13: 680-691
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Franklin D.C., Brocklehurst, P.S., Lynch, D. and Bowman D.M.J.S. 2007. Niche differentiation and regeneration in the seasonally flooded Melaleuca forests of northern Australia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23: 457-467
- Banfai D.S. and Bowman D.M.J.S. 2007. Drivers of rain-forest boundary dynamics in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia: a field assessment. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23: 73-86
- Banfai D.S. and Bowman D.M.J.S. 2006. Forty years of lowland monsoon rainforest expansion in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Biological Conservation 131: 553-565
- Bowman D.M.J.S. and Dingle D.K. 2006. Late 20th-century landscape-wide expansion of Allosyncarpia ternata (Myrtaceae) forests in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Australian Journal of Botany 54: 707–715
- Brook, B.W. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2006. Postcards from the past: charting the landscape-scale conversion of tropical Australian savanna to closed forest during the 20th century. Landscape Ecology 21: 1253-1266
- Banfai, D. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2005. Dynamics of a savanna-forest mosaic in the Australian monsoon tropics inferred from stand structures and historical aerial photography. Australian Journal of Botany 53:185-194
- Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2005. Fertilising the greenhouse. Nature Australia Magazine 29 January
- Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2005. Grass, fire and ecological engineering. Australasian Science June 2005: 20-22
- Bowman, D.M.J.S., Cook, G.D. and Zoppi, U. 2004. Holocene boundary dynamics of a northern Australia monsoon forest patch inferred from isotopic analysis of carbon (14C and δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in soil organic matter. Austral Ecology 29: 605-612
Landscape-scale Population Dynamics of Open Forests in the Australian Monsoon Tropics
Project Team: Prof David Bowman (University of Tasmania), Prof Barry Brook (University of Adelaide), Dr Lynda Prior, Prof Pat Werner
Funding: ARC Discovery Grant
Partners: Parks Australia North, CSIRO
Over the last century there has been a trend of increasing tree cover in many landscapes. The causes of this globally important ecological phenomenon are poorly understood, but may include the effects of climate, fire, grazing and CO2. We determined how an area of forest has changed over 40 years in Kakadu National Park, linking forest demography with remote sensing techniques, re-measurement and analysis of long-term tree demography datasets, and simulation models of tree population dynamics on a landscape scale. We also assessed change in tree cover in savanna across Kakadu National Park, and related these changes to factors such as mean annual rainfall, fire frequency and season, buffalo grazing and inter-tree competition.
- Prior, L.D., Bowman, D.M.J.S. and Brook, B.W. 2007. Growth and survival of two north Australian relictual tree species, Allosyncarpia ternata (Myrtaceae) and Callitris intratropica (Cupressaceae). Ecological Research DOI: 10.1007/s11284-006-0011-2
- Prior L.D., Brook B.W., Williams R.J., Werner P.A., Bradshaw C.J.A., and Bowman D.M.J.S. 2006. Environmental and allometric drivers of tree growth rates in a north Australian savanna. Forest Ecology and Management 234,164–180.
- Werner, P.A., Cowie, I.D., Cusack, J.S., 2006. Impact of feral water buffalo on juvenile trees in savannas of northern Australia: An experimental field study in Kakadu National Park. Australian Journal of Botany 54: 283-296
- Werner, P.A. 2005. Impact of feral water buffalo and fire on growth and survival of mature savanna trees: An experimental field study in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Austral Ecology 30: 625-647
- Brook, B.W., Bowman, D.M.J.S. and Bradshaw, C.J.A. 2005. Mapping the future: spatial predictions of decadal-scale landscape change in northern Australia. In MODSIM 2005. Proceedings of the International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Advances and Applications for Management and Decision Making. Melbourne, Australia
- Sharp, B.R. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2004. Net woody vegetation increase confined to seasonally-inundated lowlands in an Australian tropical savanna, Victoria river District, Northern Territory. Austral Ecology 29: 667-683
- Prior, L.D., Eamus, D. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2004. Tree growth rates in north Australian savanna habitats: seasonal patterns and correlations with leaf attributes. Australian Journal of Botany 52: 303-314
- Prior, L.D., Eamus, D. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2004. Tree growth rates in north Australian savanna habitats: seasonal patterns and correlations with leaf attributes. Australian Journal of Botany 52: 303-314
- Bowman, D.M.J.S. and Prior, L.D. 2005. Turner Review No.10 – Why do evergreen trees dominate the Australian seasonal tropics? Australian Journal of Botany 53: 379-399
- Sharp, B.R. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2004. Patterns of long-term woody vegetation change in a sandstone-plateau savanna woodland, Northern Territory, Australia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20: 1-12
- Vigilante, T. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2004. Effects of individual fire events on the flower production of fruit-bearing tree species, with reference to Aboriginal people’s management and use, at Kalumburu, North Kimberley. Australian Journal of Botany 52: 405-415
- Vigilante, T. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2004. The effects of fire history on the structure and floristic composition of woody vegetation around Kalumburu, North Kimberley: a landscape-scale natural experiment. Australian Journal of Botany 52: 381-415
- Vigilante, T., Bowman, D.M.J.S., Fisher, R., Russell-Smith, J. and Yates, C. 2004. Contemporary landscape burning patterns in the far North Kimberley Region: human influences and environmental determinants. Journal of Biogeography 31: 1317- 333
- Bowman, D.M.J.S. and Prior, L.D. 2004. Impact of Aboriginal landscape burning on woody vegetation in Eucalyptus tetrodonta savanna in Arnhem Land, northern Australia. Journal of Biogeography 31: 807-817
- Prior, L.D., Bowman, D.M.J.S. and Eamus, D. 2004. Seasonal differences in leaf attributes in Australian tropical tree species: family and habitat comparisons. Funtional Ecology 18: 707-718.
- Prior, L.D., Bowman, D.M.J.S. and Eamus, D. 2005. Intra-specific variation in leaf attributes of four savanna tree species across a rainfall gradient in tropical Australia. Australian Journal of Botany 53: 323-335.
Recently completed reseach
Dynamics of Mulga Shrubland and Spinifex Grassland in Central Australia
Project Team: Prof David Bowman (University of Tasmania), Dr Guy Boggs, Dr Don Franklin, Anstee Nicholas
Funding: Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre
Partners: NRETA
The component of the Desert-Fire project within the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre.
The project uses changes in the distribution of mulga (Acacia anuera) spinifex (Trioda sp.) as a bio-indicator of landscape change at the short, medium and long-term.
Long-term changes were determined by the radio-carbon age and carbon stable isotope composition of soil organic matter across mulga-spinifex boundaries, providing a powerful test of the assertion that spinifex has expanded in the prehistoric period in response to sustained and pervasive Aboriginal landscape burning. Medium term changes were determined using geographic information system analyses of geo-referenced historical sequences of aerial photography that were ground-truthed. Observed changes were statistically related to different land uses and fire regimes, as determined from satellite imagery (post 1972 only). Short-term changes were determined by studying the demographic impact of different land management treatments on woody plant populations and on the biomass of Triodia hummock grasses.
- Bowman, D.M.J.S., Boggs, G.S., Prior, L.D. 2008. Fire maintains an Acacia aneura shrubland - Triodia grassland mosaic in central Australia. Journal Of Arid Environments 72:1 34-47 Published: JAN 2008
- Bowman D.M.J.S., Boggs G.S, Prior L.D. and Krull E.S. 2007. Dynamics of Acacia aneura – Triodia boundaries using carbon (14C and δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in soil organic matter in central Australia. The Holocene 17: 311-318 Published: APR 2007
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