The response of birds to the fire regimes of mulga woodlands in central Australia
It is widely assumed by Australian scientists and land managers that a fine-scaled fire mosaic delivers benefits for biodiversity. However to my knowledge, direct evidence to support this notion is scant. I am using the mulga woodlands/mulga birds model system to investigate the idea.
Specifically I am testing the effects of:
- time-since-fire
- patch size and
- ecotone between burnt and unburnt patches,
on the abundance of mulga birds.
I am also measuring the habitat characteristics of mulga of different time-since-fire in an effort to explain my results.