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Cited by 24Fire effects on ecosystemsRangeland and Wildlife ManagementAustralian Indigenous Culture and History

Population collapse of a Gondwanan conifer follows the loss of Indigenous fire regimes in a northern Australian savanna

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Bowman, David M. J. S., Williamson, Grant J., Johnston, Fay H., Bowman, Clarence J. W., Murphy, Brett P., Roos, Christopher I., Trauernicht, Clay, Rostron, Joshua +1 more·2022·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-022-12946-3PMC PMC9156674
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Abstract

Colonialism has disrupted Indigenous socioecological systems around the globe, including those supported by intentional landscape burning. Because most disruptions happened centuries ago, our understanding of Indigenous fire management is largely inferential and open to debate. Here, we investigate the ecological consequences of the loss of traditional Aboriginal fire management on fire-exposed savannas on the Arnhem Plateau, northern Australia, using the fire-sensitive conifer Callitris intratropica as a bio-indicator. We contrast Kakadu National Park, where traditional Aboriginal fire management was severely disrupted during the early twentieth century following Aboriginal relocation to surrounding settlements, and an adjacent Aboriginal estate where traditional Aboriginal fire management endures. Since 2006, traditional Aboriginal fire management at this site has been overlaid by a program of broad-scale institutionalized burning in the early dry season, designed to reduce greenhouse emissions. Using remote sensing, field survey, and dendrochronology, we show that on the Aboriginal estate, C. intratropica populations depend on the creation of a shifting patch mosaic of long unburned areas necessary for the recruitment of C. intratropica. However, the imposition of broad-scale fire management is disrupting this population patch dynamic. In Kakadu, there have been extreme declines of C. intratropica associated with widespread fires since the mid twentieth century and consequent proliferation of grass fuels. Fire management in Kakadu since 2007, designed to increase the size and abundance of patches of unburned vegetation, has not been able to reverse the population collapse of C. intratropica . Our study demonstrates that colonial processes including relocation of Indigenous people and institutional fire management can have deleterious consequences that are nearly irreversible because of hysteresis in C. intratropica population dynamics.

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  • Institutional burning, even when intended to mimic Indigenous fire regimes, can produce unintended and undesirable outcomes.

    “Institutional burning, even when intended to mimic Indigenous fire regimes, can produce unintended and undesirable outcomes (67).”

    From Tree rings reveal persistent Western Apache (Ndee) fire stewardship and niche construction in the American Southwest (2025) · cites this paper as [67]

    The Abstract reports that broad-scale institutional burning disrupted the conifer population’s patch dynamics, supporting the claim that institutional burning can have undesirable outcomes. But it says the program was designed to reduce greenhouse emissions, not to mimic Indigenous fire regimes. The Conclusions likewise describe institutional management as a different form of fire management that can overwrite traditional regimes. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [16]Haynes, C. D. in Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia (Australia) (Darwin Institute of Technology).
  2. [36]Press T Lea D Webb A Alistair G Kakadu Natural and Cultural Heritage and Management 1995 The Australian National University
  3. [38]Russell-Smith, J., Needham, S. & Brock, J. in Kakadu: Natural and Cultural Heritage and Management (eds A. J. Press et al.) 128–166 (Australian National University, 1995).

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Authors
Bowman, D. M. J. S., Williamson, G. J., Johnston, F. H., Bowman, C. J. W., Murphy, B. P., Roos, C. I., Trauernicht, C., Rostron, J., & Prior, L. D.
Affiliations
  • University of Tasmania (AU)
  • Charles Darwin University (AU)
  • Southern Methodist University (US)
  • University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
Corresponding author
Bowman, David M. J. S.
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2022-05-31
Volume
12
Issue
1
Pages
9081-9081
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-022-12946-3
PMC
PMC9156674
OpenAlex
W4281661648
Cited by
24
References
67
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1
FWCI
1.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UTAS Research Repository (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Australian Research Council (DP0878177)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Australian Indigenous Culture and History
Keywords
Indigenous fire management, savanna fire regimes, population collapse, colonialism, Kakadu National Park, hysteresis, bioindicators
MeSH terms
Australia, Poaceae, Humans, Ecosystem, Tracheophyta, Grassland

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