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3.5.1
INTRODUCTION
Read ‘Fire is for the Birds?’ (Resource
Material.[3.5])
 To
download "Fire is for the Birds?" articles go to
fire3.5.pdf
Q.43 Summarise
the information by drawing a continuum of fire “magnitude”*
and placing the discussed species upon it; e.g. 
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Malleefowl
Low Fire Magnitude
(Low freq., intensity,small size) |
E. Bristlebird
High Fire Magnitude
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Place species approximately where
you think fire “magnitude” would be optimal for them.
* Magnitude is a crude term used here
to denote ‘prevalence’, ‘impact’, ‘effect’;
it does not take into account variables, such as season, nor
the trade-off between frequency and intensity. |
Q.44 Summarise
the information further by drawing a table to list the mentioned
effects of fire on species and habitat from changed regimes, e.g.
| Effect |
< Fire Magnitude
-
Decrease E B/bird if fire fq. < 1 in 20
yrs
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> Fire Magnitude
- Loss of soil nutrients
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Extension
E.8 How important is the threatening process ‘inappropriate
fire regimes’ to Australia’s avifauna? (see Ext. Res.
Material E.3).
To
download "Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000" go to
list.pdf
3.5.2
STRINGYBARK FRUIT: HOMOGENOUS OR HETEROGENEOUS RESOURCE?
First impressions are that there are still large
‘blocks’ of stringybark remaining in the RTBC’s range
and that food availability should not be a significant problem.
Recent findings from the study of the Glossy Black-Cockatoo on Kangaroo
Island (SA) raise interesting questions about such assumptions and
suggest the need for careful examination of feeding behaviours and
food sources.
Some of the findings of the Glossy Black study
were:
- Primary
source is Drooping Sheoak Allocasuarina verticilatta
- GBCs feed mostly on sheoaks growing on sandy clay loams of
at least 15% clay
- GBCs have rarely been recorded feeding on sheoaks growing
on sandy soils
- GBCs will feed only on sheoaks with >50% seed-fill (presence
of kernels)
- Prime feeding sites occur on acid to neutral soils
- Nitrogen - fixing root nodules enhance tree nutrition and
probably influence seed-fill
- Birds have not been recorded feeding on trees on laterite
soils, no matter what their seed-fill
- Birds appear to avoid trees growing in saline areas
- Birds are frequently observed feeding on one tree and ignoring
a neighbouring tree
- There are no visible differences in the form or foliage of
suitable feeding trees and unsuitable trees
- These feeding requirements mean that many extensive stands
of Drooping Sheoak may be unsuitable for GBCS
(Crowley 1996, and subsequent pers. comm.) |
In addition, Emerson has suggested that it
takes three years (or perhaps two years for Desert Stringybark)
for stringybarks to go through a reproductive cycle (from flower
bud to brown, hard fruit), and it is only the last one and a half
years of this cycle, when the fruit is green and developing, that
it is suitable for RTBCs (see Figure 14).
Figure 14. Proposed
Phenology of Brown Stringybark (Emerson unpubl.)
Several observers have also suggested
that stringybark flowering and fruiting is synchronised and
periodicic, seeming to follow a three-year cycle in certain
locations, but this is not visible at a broader scale of entire
districts or regions. This pattern is further complicated
and overridden by climatic events.
Q.45
Is RTBC food selection likely to be as particular as GBC’s?
Why/why not?
Q.46 Would
RTBC Buloke feeding be more likely to resemble GBC feeding?
Q.47 What
soil, groundwater and nutrient conditions seem to favour the
development of high-energy food in Drooping Sheoaks?
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3.5.3
FIRE PLAN: MEETING DIVERSE AND CONFLICTING NEEDS
Q.48 You are
the Forest and Fire Officer at Dept. Natural Resources and Environment
(DNRE) Edenhope. Your job is to prepare a fire plan for an area
of public land incorporating two large blocks of State forest (see
Figure 15). Your plan should contain a map and cross-section of
the forest and address the following variables:.
Figure
15. Fire Plan
Base Map (adapted from Country Fire Authority 1997)
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Variables*
(a) 4 X RTBC nest trees; used 1970s and ‘80s, but no
activity since 1990 (last fire)
(b) F% burnt: c. every 8 years
(c) Last burnt: 8 years ago
(d) Intensity of fires: high (canopy and understorey)
(e) Area burnt: entire blocks
(f) Season: summer
(g) Flowering periodicity: 3 years
(h) Peak flowering: Hausler’s 1987; Pahl’s 1985;
only moderate flowering in the 1990s
(i) Staff resources available: very limited; some Country
Fire Authority assistance
(j) Lake Dead Wallop is popular for camping, boating and fishing
(k) Significant agitation in the West Wimmera Advocate by
adjacent landholders that fuel has built up to an alarming
level and that the State forests are a fire hazard
(l) Landholder #5 has said if DNRE does not act he will burn
the stringybark on his property adjoining
Hausler’s SF to the west, and will not be responsible
for what happens to the RTBC nest trees
(m) Public land fire plan must complement, as far as possible,
plans for adjoining private land
(n) Three beekeepers who have used the two forest blocks in
the past claim that the forest has been burnt too frequently,
is now producing only limited nectar and should be left to
‘recover’ for several years yet
* Although the location is real, the case study is fictitious,
and any resemblance to people or circumstances is coincidental.
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Q.49 Look
at the cartoon of the fire manager: in your plan, what ‘balls’
have you kept in the air? Let fall?
Figure 16. The “Art”
of the Fire Manager (Rose 1994)
Q.50 Is
the fire plan more advantageous to the RTBC, or the entire forest
ecosystem, or both?
Q.51 Paul Koch
of the University of Adelaide commenced a PhD on stringybarks, fire
and RTBCs in 1999. What information could he collect to make your
job easier?
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