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Does inherent flammability of grass and litter fuels contribute to continental patterns of landscape fire activity?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 23:05 authored by Lynda PriorLynda Prior, Murphy, BP, Grant WilliamsonGrant Williamson, Cochrane, MA, Jolly, WM, David BowmanDavid Bowman

Aims: To (1) identify the trade-offs among flammability attributes within grass and litter fuel types; (2) determine how flammability attributes of grass and litter fuels vary across macro-ecological gradients; and (3) test our hypothesis that inherent flammability attributes of grass and litter fuels scale to satellite-derived proxies for fire frequency and intensity.

Location: Continent of Australia.

Methods: Samples of litter and grass fuels collected from 133 sites across Australia were oven dried, then burnt under controlled conditions. Measurements of ignitability, combustibility and sustainability were made. Estimates of fire frequency and fire radiative power (a proxy for intensity) were derived from satellite imagery. Multivariate analyses were used to identify inter-relationships among variables and trends across macro-ecological gradients.

Results: Flammability was best described by two axes: high rate of combustion versus long duration of burning, and fast rate of spread versus high maximum temperature. As expected, our study confirmed that grass and litter fuel types have inherently differently flammability attributes whereby grass samples burn more quickly, with a higher rate of spread, than litter samples. However, there were also smaller differences in flammability attributes within fuel types, which scaled to rainfall, temperature and soil phosphorus concentrations. In keeping with our hypothesis, we found correlations between inherent fuel flammability attributes and landscape fire activity across the Australian continent. Fire frequency and rate of combustion of grass fuels were both highest in the tropics, and fire intensity and maximum temperature during combustion of litter fuels were highest in temperate areas.

Main conclusions: At a continental scale, we found landscape fire activity was correlated with inherent flammability of grass and litter fuels. This inherent flammability contributes to observed pyrogeographical patterns that are shaped by climate through its known effects on plant productivity, the abundance of cured grass biomass and fire weather.

History

Publication title

Journal of Biogeography

Volume

44

Issue

6

Pagination

1225-1238

ISSN

0305-0270

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Place of publication

9600 Garsington Rd, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox4 2Dg

Rights statement

Copyright 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Natural hazards not elsewhere classified

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