BIO3132 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Torpor, Field Experiment, Surplus Killing
31 May 2018
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Week 12. Fire adaptations and Dingoes
FIRE ADAPTATIONS IN AUSTRALIAN VERTEBRATES
• Australia: land of fire
Australia has substantial areas of fire community vegetation, not only adapted for fire but often
adapted to encourage fire. Is Australian fauna also adapted for fire, and if so how?
• Fire phases:
Acute phase
o Fire itself
o Intensity and patches vary
o Animals can escape to areas with no fire
Shock phase
o Food may be limited but lots of seedfall
o Little or no shelter from predators
o A lot of ash
Regrowth
o Flush of grasses, herbs, orchids, and epicormics growth (if there is water)
- Epicormic buds lie dormant beneath the bark, their growth suppressed by
hormones from active shoots higher up the tree
o Insect abundances boom in response
o Boom of vertebrate species with opportunistic life history
Succession
o Several succession phases
o Domination by different plant species and different vegetation structures
o Grassy/shrubby/small trees
o Exploitation by different animal species
Old growth
o Long unburnt vegetation represents a relatively stable environment
o Loss of opportunistic species/tendency towards heath- or forest –interior
species
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-second largest tree
-explodes with fire due to oil inside
• Traditional burning involves patchy mosaic burning where unburnt areas provide shelter for
animals and burnt areas provide diversity of plant species
• Seral = succession
• Seral responses:
o Seral communities are intermediate stages after disturae efore a lia
ouit deelop
o Multiple seral stages may exist
o Droughts can push down sequences – ore fleile the atual suessio ut ell
treat them as the same thing
o Evidence for sorting of lizard species according to intensity of fires
-does this represent to adaptation to fire? Possibly
-are they attracted to or do better in these environments?
-microhabitat use?
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find more resources at oneclass.com
o Friend (1992) review article:
Immediately after fire, drastic decrease in all small mammal species
Some sheltering in wet gullies, holes and wombat burrows
Further decline during shock phase – probably due to lack of cover and high
predation numbers
Soon after fire/end of shock phase – pulse of invasive musculus
• Mechanisms of effect:
o Reduced population numbers
o Reduced resource availability
-food, cover, nest sites
o Increased competition
o Increased predation
o Reduced individual fitness
o Specific responses to fire:
Diet shift
Habitat shift
Increased/decreased activity
Emigration or immigration
Response to growth
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Fire adaptations in australian vertebrates: australia: land of fire. Australia has substantial areas of fire community vegetation, not only adapted for fire but often adapted to encourage fire. Is australian fauna also adapted for fire, and if so how: fire phases: Intensity and patches vary: animals can escape to areas with no fire. Shock phase: food may be limited but lots of seedfall, little or no shelter from predators, a lot of ash. Regrowth: flush of grasses, herbs, orchids, and epicormics growth (if there is water) Epicormic buds lie dormant beneath the bark, their growth suppressed by hormones from active shoots higher up the tree. Insect abundances boom in response: boom of vertebrate species with opportunistic life history. Succession: several succession phases, domination by different plant species and different vegetation structures, grassy/shrubby/small trees, exploitation by different animal species. Old growth: long unburnt vegetation represents a relatively stable environment, loss of opportunistic species/tendency towards heath- or forest interior species.
