DEPARTMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENT Ecological Burning in Box-Ironbark Forests: Phase 1 - Literature Review Report to North Central Catchment Management Authority Arn Tolsma, David Cheal and Geoff Brown Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Ecological Burning in Box-Ironbark Forests Phase 1 – Literature Review Report to North Central Catchment Management Authority August 2007 © State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment 2007 This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. General disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you, but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Report prepared by Arn Tolsma, David Cheal and Geoff Brown Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Department of Sustainability and Environment 123 Brown St (PO Box 137) Heidelberg, Victoria, 3084 Phone 9450 8600 Email: [email protected] Acknowledgements: Obe Carter (now at Department of Primary Industries and Water, Tasmania) and Claire Moxham (Arthur Rylah Institute) made valuable contributions to the introductory section. Alan Yen (Department of Primary Industry) contributed substantially to the invertebrate section. Andrew Bennett (Deakin University) and Greg Horrocks (Monash University) provided expert advice on fauna effects. Nick Clemann (Arthur Rylah Institute) and Evelyn Nicholson (Department of Sustainability and Environment) provided feedback on reptiles and frogs. Matt Gibson (University of Ballarat) provided on-ground litter data. Kevin Tolhurst (The University of Melbourne) provided unpublished data on understorey changes. Willemijn de Vos assisted with the literature search. Thanks to the NCCMA, especially Aaron Gay and Lyndall Rowley, for arranging the workshop and for further reference material, and Geoff Park for facilitating the workshop. We thank all the workshop participants (see Appendix) for their time. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...............................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................7 FIRE IN AUSTRALIAN ECOSYSTEMS...................................................................................... 13 ROLE OF FIRE IN AUSTRALIA.......................................................................................................... 13 PLANT ADAPTATIONS AND RESPONSES TO FIRE - A GENERAL OVERVIEW ........................................ 14 FAUNAL ADAPTATIONS AND RESPONSES TO FIRE- A GENERAL OVERVIEW ...................................... 16 FIRE IN BOX-IRONBARK ECOSYSTEMS ................................................................................ 19 HISTORICAL FIRE REGIMES IN BOX-IRONBARK FORESTS................................................................. 19 EFFECTS OF FIRE ON UNDERSTOREY............................................................................................... 21 EFFECTS OF FIRE ON CANOPY SPECIES ........................................................................................... 32 EFFECTS OF FIRE ON LITTER ACCUMULATION AND FUEL................................................................. 34 EFFECTS OF FIRE ON INVERTEBRATES............................................................................................. 35 EFFECTS OF FIRE ON BIRDS ............................................................................................................ 38 EFFECTS OF FIRE ON MAMMALS..................................................................................................... 43 EFFECTS OF FIRE ON REPTILES AND FROGS..................................................................................... 48 SUMMARY OF EFFECTS OF FIRE ON FAUNA ..................................................................................... 52 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 53 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................... 55 APPENDIX 1 - RESULTS OF WORKSHOP................................................................................ 67 ATTENDEES:.................................................................................................................................. 67 BACKGROUND AND AIM ................................................................................................................ 67 PRE-SETTLEMENT BURNING PRACTICES ......................................................................................... 68 21ST CENTURY LANDSCAPE CHANGES............................................................................................. 70 EFFECTS OF FIRES IN BOX-IRONBARK............................................................................................. 71 LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF CHANGED FIRE RÉGIMES ......................................................................... 75 IS THERE A NEED TO BURN BOX-IRONBARK? ................................................................................. 76 FURTHER RESEARCH ..................................................................................................................... 78 POST-WORKSHOP FEEDBACK ......................................................................................................... 78 APPENDIX 2 - PLANT VITAL ATTRIBUTES FOR SOME BOX-IRONBARK SPECIES....... 81 APPENDIX 3 - LIKELY EFFECT OF FIRE ON BIRD SPECIES .............................................. 87 APPENDIX 4 - LIKELY EFFECT OF FIRE ON MAMMAL SPECIES ..................................... 93 APPENDIX 5 - LIKELY EFFECT OF FIRE ON REPTILE AND FROG SPECIES .................. 95 Ecological Burning in Box-Ironbark Forests. Phase 1 – Literature Review 3 Report to North Central CMA INDEX OF FIGURES Figure 1. Map of North Central CMA, showing Box-Ironbark study area............................ 11 INDEX OF TABLES Table 1. Response of some understorey vascular plants to an applied burning regime in the Wombat State Forest, Victoria (unpublished data, Kevin Tolhurst, The University of Melbourne)........................................................................................................... 22 Table 2. Key Fire Response vascular plant species in Box-Ironbark forest.......................... 31 Table 3. Bird species likely to be most affected by a low-moderate intensity fire in Box- Ironbark forest. ................................................................................................... 41 Table 4. Mammal species likely to be most affected by a low-moderate intensity fire in Box- Ironbark forest. ................................................................................................... 47 Table 5. Reptile and frog species likely to be most affected by a low-moderate intensity fire in Box-Ironbark forest. 51 Table 6. Summary of fauna responses to low intensity fire in Box-Ironbark forests. ........... 52 4 Ecological Burning in Box-Ironbark Forests. Phase 1 – Literature Review Report to North Central CMA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Box-Ironbark ecosystems comprise approximately 250 000 hectares of predominantly dry sclerophyll forest inland of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria. They are home to a diverse range of flora and fauna species, with 1330 vascular plant species, 213 bird species, 54 mammal species, 43 reptile species and 14 frog species recorded across the broader ecosystem. Since European settlement, these forests have been extensively cleared for agriculture, urban development, timber cutting and mining. Much of the extant vegetation now exists as remnants of coppice regrowth with depleted understorey in areas of poorer soil, and this has had serious implications for ecosystem biodiversity. The North Central Catchment Management Authority, as part of its Regional Catchment Strategy and Native Vegetation Plan, identified the need to “Develop and implement appropriate fire management regimes to sustain ecological processes in key private land vegetation remnants….” Given the lack of knowledge on such fire regimes, a review of current fire knowledge and practices was required, ultimately facilitating the creation of broad criteria for the establishment (or otherwise) of an appropriate ecological burning regime. This report comprises Phase 1 of the Ecological Burn Project, the Literature Review, and focuses on the impacts of ecological burning in Box-Ironbark or similar ecosystems. 1. The review has not been able to shed light on historical aboriginal burning regimes. Some have suggested that seasonal burning was probably undertaken, but little direct evidence exists, and what evidence there is relates to landscape-wide observations that are not site- or vegetation-specific. Fire has probably played a minor part in influencing the vegetation structure and faunal assemblages in Box-Ironbark ecosystems. Management should now be geared towards the needs of the forests as they exist today, not as they existed in some idealised pre-European state. 2. The response of the understorey to applied burning will depend