Book Chapter
Effects of fire management and grazing by cattle on ant communities in south-east Queensland open forests
By
Cas Vanderwoude
;
Cas Vanderwoude
Fire Ant Control Centre, PO Box 1241 Oxley Queensland 4075
Search for other works by this author on:
Kym M. Johnson
Kym M. Johnson
Fire Ant Control Centre, PO Box 1241 Oxley Queensland 4075
Search for other works by this author on:
-
Published:2004
Citation
Cas Vanderwoude, Kym M. Johnson, 2004. "Effects of fire management and grazing by cattle on ant communities in south-east Queensland open forests", Conservation of Australia's Forest Fauna, Daniel Lunney
Download citation file:
Forest management practices, such as prescribed burning and cattle grazing, have come under increasing scrutiny due to their potential to cause damage to local ecosystems. This study examined the impacts of these practices on ant communities at Bauple State Forest in south-east Queensland. Ant community structure was studied at three locations subjected to different long-term burning frequencies (fire protected, low intensity spring burns at 2-3 year intervals and annual low intensity spring burns). Within the annually burned area, the effects of fire and grazing exclusion for a three-year period were also examined. The results indicate that fire frequency has a significant impact on ant community structure, most probably through its influence on the structural environment (alterations to insolation and ground cover). Ant abundance, species richness and the relative abundance of Dominant Dolichoderines were significantly lower in areas of lower fire frequency, while the relative abundance of Opportunists increased. Ant community data at the two burned areas were significantly different from the long-term unburned area, suggesting regular fire events have a considerable impact on ant community structure. After three years of experimental fire exclusion, both the environmental and ant community structure resembled the long-term infrequently burned site, suggesting a rapid response by the ant community to changes in vegetation structure and the related abiotic characteristics. A significant reduction in ant abundance and species richness was observed by the third year and a trend to reduced abundance of Dominant Dolichoderines and increased Opportunists was observed in fire-protected plots. Experimental release from grazing pressure for a period of 36 months did not result in any significant differences in ant community, possibly indicating that grazing impacts were not readily reversible in the short term.
Andrén, H. 1994. Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review. Oikos 71: 355-366
Angelstam, P. 1992. Conservation of communities - The importance of edges, surroundings and landscape mosaic structure. Pp 9-70 in Ecological Principles of Native Conservation, edited by L. Hansson. Elsevier Applied Science, London.
Baskinski, J.J., Wood, I.M. and Hacker, J.B. 1985 The northern challenge: a history of CSIRO crop research in northern Australia. Research Report No. 3. CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures. Brisbane.
Bennett, A.F. 1990 Habitat Corridors: Their role in wildlife management. Department of Conservation and Environment, Victoria, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research.
Bierregaard Jr., R. O., Lovejoy, T. E., Kapos, V., Santos, A. A. d. and Hutchings, R. W. 1992. The Biological Dynamics of Tropical Rainforest Fragments. BioScience 42: 859-866.
Bowman, D.J.M.S. 1999. The impact of Aboriginal landscape burning on the Australia biota. New Phytologist 140: 385-410
Bowman, D.J.M.S. and Panton, W.J. 1993. Decline of Callitris intratropica R.T. Baker and H.G. Smith in the Northern Territory: Implications for pre- and post- European colonization fire regimes. Journal of Biogeography 20: 373-381
Braithwaite, R.W. 1996. Biodiversity and fire in savanna landscape. Pp 121-143 in Biodiversity and savanna ecosystem processes: a global perspective, edited by O.T. Solbrig, E. Medina and J.F. Silva. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
Brock, J. 2000 Clearing Moves North: A Review of Land Clearing in the Northern Territory. A report to the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory. July 2000 www.ecnt.org/landclearing.htm
Commonwealth of Australia, 1995 Native vegetation clearance, habitat loss and biodiversity decline: an overview of recent native vegetation clearance in Australia and its implications. Department of Environment Sport and Territories, Canberra.
Cowie, I.D. and Werner, P.A. 1993. Alien plant species invasive in Kakadu National Park, tropical northern Austraila. Biological Conservation 63: 127-135.
Debinski, D.M. and Holt, R.D. 2000. A survey and overview of habitat fragmentation experiments. Conservation Biology 14: 342-355.
Diamond, J.M. 1975. The Island dilemma: Lessons of modern biogeographic studies for the design of natural reserves. Conservation Biology 7: 129-146.
Diamond, J. D., Bishop, K. D. and van Balen, S. 1987. Bird survival in an isolated Javan woodland: island or mirror? Conservation Biology 1: 132-142.
Fahrig, L. 2001. How much habitat is enough? Biological Conservation 100: 65-74.
Fahrig, L. 2002. Effect of habitat fragmentation on the extinction threshold: a synthesis. Ecological Applications 12: 346-353
Fairfax, R.J. and Fensham, R.J. 2000. The effect of exotic pasture development on floristic diversity in central Queensland, Australia. Biological Conservation 94: 11-21
Fauth, P.T., Gustafson, E.J. and Rabenold, K.N. 2000. Using landscape metrics to model source habitat for Neotropical migrants in the midwestern U.S. Landscape Ecology 15: 621-631
Gascon, C., Lovejoy, T.E., Jr, R.O.B., Malcom, J.R., Stouffer, P.C., Vasconcelos, H.L., Laurance, W.F., Zimmerman, B., Tocher, M. and Borges, S. 1999. Matrix habitat and species richness in tropical forest remnants. Biological Conservation 91: 223-229.
Gill, A.M., Ryan, P.G., Moore, P.H.R. and Gibson, M. 2000. Fire regimes of World Heritage Kakadu National Park, Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 25: 616-25
Haas, C.A. 1995. Dispersal and use of corridors by birds in wooded patches in an agricultural landscape. Conservation Biology 9: 845-854.
Harris, L. D. 1988. Edge effects and conservation of biotic diversity. Conservation Biology 2: 330-332.
Haynes, C.D. 1985. The pattern and ecology of munwag: traditional aboriginal fire regimes in north central Arnhemland. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia 13: 203-214
Hobbs, R.J. 1992. The Role of Corridors in Conservation? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 7: 389-392
Hobbs, R.J. and Saunders, D.J. 1993. Effects of landscape fragmentation in agricultural areas. Pp 77-95 in Conservation Biology in Australia and Oceania, edited by C. Moritz and J. Kikkawa. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW.
Ims, R.A. 1995 Movement patterns related to spatial structures. Chapman & Hill, London.
Kean, L. and Price, O. 2003. The extent of Mission grasses and Gamba grass in the Darwin region of Australia's Northern Territory. Pacific Conservation Biology 8: 281-290.
Lande and Barrowclough 1987. Effective population size, genetic variation, and their use in population management. Pp 87-123 in Viable Populations for Conservation. edited by M.E. Soulé. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Landsberg, J., Morse, J. and Khanna, P., 1990. Tree dieback and insect dynamics in remnants of native woodlands on farms. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia 16: 149-65.
Laurance, W.F. 1994. Rainforest fragmentation and the structure of small mammal communities in tropical Queensland. Biological Conservation 69: 23-32.
Lonsdale, W.M. 1994. Inviting trouble: Introducing pasture species in northern Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 19: 345-354
Machtans, C.S., Villard, M.A. and Hannon, S.J. 1996. Use of riparian buffer strips as movement corridors by forest birds. Conservation Biology 10: 1366-1379
Menkhorst, K.A. and Woinarski, J.C.Z. 1992. Distribution of mammals in monsoon rainforests of the Northern Territory. Wildlife Research 19: 295-316
Panetta, F.D. and Hopkins, A.J.M. 1991. Weeds in corridors: invasion and management. Pp 341-251 in Nature Conservation: The Role of Corridors, edited by D.A. Saunders and R.J. Hobbs. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW.
Price, O.F., Woinarski, J.C.Z. and Robinson, D. 1999. Very large area requirements for frugivorous birds in monsoon rainforests of the Northern Territory. Biological Conservation 91: 169-180
Price, O., Milne, D., Connors, G., Harwood, B., Woinarski, J. and Butler, M. 2002 A conservation plan for the Daly Basin bioregion. Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
Price, O., Edwards, A., Connors, G., Woinarski, J., Watson, M., Ryan, G., Turner, A. and Russell-Smith, J. submitted a. Fire regimes and heterogeneity, Kakadu National Park, 1980-2000: implications for wildlife. Wildlife Research.
Price, O., Rankmore, B., Milne, D., Brock, C., Tynan, C., Kean, L. and Roeger, L. submitted b. Do habitat fragmentation or landscape heterogeneity correlate with the health of mammal populations in eucalypt woodlands near Darwin, Northern Australia? Wildlife Research.
Rossiter, N.A. 2001 Comparative ecophysiology and fire ecology of native and exotic savanna grasses. Honours Thesis. School of Biological, Environmental and Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Information Technology and Education. Northern Territory University, Darwin.
Russell-Smith, J., Allen, G., Thackway, R., Rosling, T. and Smith, R. 2000. Fire management and savanna landscapes in northern Australia. Pp 95-101 in Fire and sustainable agricultural and forestry development in eastern Indonesia and northern Australia, edited by G.H.J. Russell-Smith, S. Djoeromana and B. Myers. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. Darwin
Russell-Smith, J., Lucas, D., Gapindi, M., Gunbunuka, B., Kapirigi, N., Namingum, G., Lucas, K., Giuliani, P. and Chaloupka, G. 1997. Aboriginal resource utilization and fire management practice in western Arnhem Land, monsoonal northern Australia: notes for prehistory and lessons for the future. Human Ecology 25: 159-195
Saunders, D. and Hobbs, R. 1989. Corridors for conservation. New Scientist, 28 January 63-68.
Saunders, D.A., Hobbs, R.J. and Margules, C.R. 1991. Biological consequences of ecosystem fragmentation: a review. Conservation Biology 5: 18-27.
Saunders, D.A. and de Rebeira, C.P., 1991. Values of corridors to avian populations in a fragmented landscape. Pp 221-240 in Nature Conservation 2: The roles of Corridors. Edited by D.A. Saunders and R.J. Hobbs. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW.
Saunders, D.A., Hobbs, R.J. and Arnold, G.W. 1993. The Kellerberrin project on fragmented landscapes: a review of current information. Biological Conservation 64: 185-192.
Sieving, K. E. and Karr, J. R. 1997. Avian extinction and persistence mechanisms in lowland Panama. Pp 156-170 in: Tropical Forest Remnants. Edited by W. F. Laurence and R. O Bierregaard. University Chicago Press.
Soulé, M. E., and Simberloff, D., 1986. What do genetics and ecology tell us about the design of nature reserves? Biological Conservation 35: 19-40.
Soulé, M. E., 1987 Viable Populations for Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Taylor, R., Woinarski, J. and Chatto, R. 2003. Hollow use by vertebrates in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Australian Zoologist 32: 462-476.
Williams, J., Read, C., Norton, A., Dovers, S., Burgman, M., Proctor, W. and Anderson, H., 2001 Biodiversity, Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report), CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of Environment and Heritage, Canberra.
Williams, R.J., Cook, G.D., Gill, A.M. and Moore, P.H.R. 1999. Fire regime, fire intensity and tree survival in a tropical savanna in northern Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 24: 50-59
Williams, R.J., Griffiths, A.D. and Allan, G.E. 2002. Fire regimes and biodiversity in the wet-dry tropical landscapes of northern Australia. Pp 281-304 in Flammable Australia: the fire regimes and biodiversity of a continent, edited by R.A. Bradstock, J.E. Williams and A.M. Gill. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK
With, K.A. and Crist, T.O. 1995. Critical thresholds in species' responses to landscape structure. Ecology 76: 2446-2459.
Woinarski, J.C.Z. 2004. The forest fauna of the Northern Territory: knowledge, conservation and management. Pp. 36-55 in Conservation of Australia's Forest Fauna (2nd edition), edited by D. Lunney, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW.
Woinarski, J.C.Z., Fisher, A., Brennan, K., Moriss, I. And Chatto, R. 2001a. Patterns of bird species richness and composition on islands off Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Austral Ecology 26: 1-13.
Woinarski, J.C.Z., Milne, D.J. and Wanganeen, G. 2001b. Changes in mammal populations in relatively intact landscapes of Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. Austral Ecology 26: 360-370
Woinarski, J.C.Z., Palmer, C., Fisher, A., Southgate, R., Masters, P. and Brennan, K. 1999. Distributional patterning of mammals on the Wessel and English Company Islands, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 47: 87-111.
Yibarbuk, D., Whitehead, P.J., Russell-Smith, J., Jackson, D., Godjuwa, C., Fisher, A., Cooke, P., Choquenot, D. and Bowman, D.M.J.S. 2001. Fire ecology and aboriginal land management in central Arnhem Land, northern Australia: a tradition of ecosystem management. Journal of Biogeography 28: 325-343.
This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access.
