Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Meat and Livestock Australia provided funding for the study from 1993 to 2000.
Purpose
Woody trees and shrubs are increasing in the grazed savannas of northern Australia. This project tested if fire could be used to manage woody cover in grazed savannas. It aims to provide recommendations on the frequency and seasonal timing of burning for effective management of woody cover and pasture composition.
Lineage
Data Creation
BOTANAL for herbaceous biomass, Bitterlich gauge for woody cover 2009, aerial image analysis for woody cover 1995 and 2013:
Tothill, J.C., Hargreaves, J., and Jones, R.M. (1978). 'BOTANAL - a comprehensive sampling and computing procedure for estimating pasture yield and composition 1. Field sampling.' (CSIRO: Brisbane, Australia.) Cowley, R.A., Hearnden, M., Joyce, K., Valencia, M., Cowley, T.M., Pettit, C., and Dyer, R.M. (2014 in press). How hot? How often? Getting the fire frequency and timing right for optimal management of woody cover and pasture composition in northern Australian grazed tropical savannas. Kidman Springs Fire Experiment 1993-2013. The Rangeland Journal. Dyer, R.M. (2001). Fire and vegetation management in pasture lands of the Victoria River District, Northern Territory. Masters Thesis, The University of Queensland, Australia.
Method Drift Description:
The BOTANAL method has changed through time 1. Species % yield estimation has altered during the trial. i. Originally up to 5 species were listed, but in 1997 and from 2000 to 2011 up to 6 species were listed. How these species were ranked has evolved through time. ii. From 1993-2005, usually only the top 3 species were ranked for % yield (not direct estimates). The options for ranking for the 1st, 2nd and third largest yielding species were as follows: 1. 100, 0, 0 2. 77, 23, 0 3. 70, 21, 9 4. 45.5, 45.5, 9 5. 34, 33, 33 6. Or very occasionally the 4th spp was also ranked 70, 21, 4.5, 4.5 iii. From 2007, the top three species % yields were directly estimated. iv. In 2009 direct estimates of % spp yield were made on up to 4 species v. In 2011 direct estimates of species yields were made on up to only three species vi. in 2013 direct estimates of % spp yield were made on up to 4 species The direct estimate of % yield is more accurate than ranking yield. Estimating % yield for 4 species will tend to mean more species are individually assessed for yield, but this should not affect statistics through time, as minor species tend to be grouped into functional groups for analysis. 2. Yield was initially estimated (1994 - 2007) as a score between 0 and 60, but is now directly estimated. Grazing score has only been collected since 2007. Related publications with methods listed Cowley, R.A., Hearnden, M., Joyce, K., Valencia, M., Cowley, T.M., Pettit, C., and Dyer, R.M. (2014 in press). How hot? How often? Getting the fire frequency and timing right for optimal management of woody cover and pasture composition in northern Australian grazed tropical savannas. Kidman Springs Fire Experiment 1993-2013. The Rangeland Journal. Dyer, R.M. (2001). Fire and vegetation management in pasture lands of the Victoria River District, Northern Territory. Masters Thesis, The University of Queensland, Australia.
Sampling design:
Completely Randomised
Factorial Designs
Photo Data Capture
Repeated Measures
Systematic Sampling
Flora Sampling Technique:
Oblique aerial photography
Quadrat/Plot/Grid
Measurements:
Derived - Continuous Data
Raw Observations - Categorical Data
Raw Observations - Continuous Data
Measurement Attributes:
Biomass
Cover
Authors
Point of Contact
Publisher