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RAiD https://raid.org/10.71613/4fbb3466
NESP RL Project 4.1 - The use and impacts of wet-season burning in the tropical savannas of Kakadu National Park

Dates

Start Date
01-Apr-2024
End Date
30-Jun-2027

Titles

Title
NESP RL Project 4.1 - The use and impacts of wet-season burning in the tropical savannas of Kakadu National Park
Title Type
Primary
Title Type:
Primary
 Preferred full description or abstract.
Start Date
01-Apr-2024
End Date
30-Jun-2027
Language
English

Descriptions

Description

Tropical savannas are the dominant ecosystem across the northern quarter of Australia and have vast expanses of grassy understories. These ecosystems are important for biodiversity conservation, as Savanna woodlands make up nearly 80 per cent of Kakadu National Park.

Fire is frequent in the savannas of Kakadu, with native grasses providing the fuel load for regular dry season fires. However, if the fires are too hot, like those in the late dry season, they can be damaging to biodiversity and the persistence of bush tucker.

Spear grass (Sarga intrans) – previously Sorghum intrans – is a common native annual grass species across northern Australia. Spear grass abundance is encouraged by regular fire and there have been reports of increasing distribution of Spear grass in Kakadu due to changes in fire management

Late dry season fires increase the abundance of Sarga by clearing competing species and providing space for Sarga seedlings to germinate. This, in turn, fuels further late dry season fire, and the spear grass can become very dominant in the understory and can lead to intense damaging fires if burnt late in the dry season.

Historically, low-intensity controlled burns in the early dry season have been used to reduce Sarga abundance. But due to climate change, early dry season burns have become hotter and more intense, making them a less viable option for grassy weed management.

We’re investigating wet season burning as an alternative way to disrupt the Sarga reproduction cycle. Wet season burning aims to kill new Sarga seedlings before they’ve had a chance to produce new seed themselves, while also reducing the overall grassy fuel load.

Wet season burning provides a promising option for conserving biodiversity and bush tucker in Kakadu National Park, but a better understanding is needed before it can be widely implemented. Historical data and Indigenous Knowledge of wet season burns will help us determine how effective they are as a fire management strategy.

The information we gather will inform how fire and biodiversity management is conducted within Kakadu National Park and may be useful for the management of other tropical savanna ecosystems.

This project is informed by a previous Resilient Landscapes Hub’s project addressing Indigenous research priorities for Kakadu.

Key research areas

To fill key knowledge gaps about using wet season burning as a management tool for tropical savanna, this project is:

  • documenting Indigenous knowledge of and attitude towards wet season burning, and measuring cultural indicators of desired outcomes from wet season burning
  • using aerial burn records and satellite imagery to quantify the timing, frequency, extent and patch size of wet season burns across Kakadu, and identifying what factors drive changes between year
  • measuring changes in fuel loads before and after wet season burning, patterns of fuel accumulation, fire intensity and rate of spread, flame height, scorch height and char height
  • assessing the ecological outcomes of wet season burning for biodiversity and bush tucker in woodlands and riparian areas. Focussing on vegetation cover, structure and composition, flowering and fruiting patterns, and abundance of select plant and animal species
  • determining the economic costs of wet season burning using both on-ground and aerial burning and across multiple years.

Pathway to impact

This project will support fire management in Kakadu National Park by:

  • improving understanding of wet-season burning and its cultural, ecological and economic outcomes
  • combining Bininj/Mungguy knowledge with fire, biodiversity and cost data
  • informing Kakadu’s fire strategy and annual fire planning
  • supporting better outcomes for savanna biodiversity, bush tucker and important habitats.
Description Type

Primary
Description Type:

Primary

 Preferred full description or abstract
Language
English

Contributors

Name Samantha Setterfield ORCID Logo (unauthenticated)
Contributor ID ORCID Logo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7470-4997 (unauthenticated)
Leader
Yes
Contact
Yes
Positions
Position
Principal or Chief Investigator
Position:
Principal or Chief Investigator
 Principal investigator refers to the person(s) in charge of a research project
Start Date
01-Apr-2024
End Date
---
Roles
No Entries
Name Natalie Rossiter-Rachor ORCID Logo (unauthenticated)
Contributor ID ORCID Logo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1098-9428 (unauthenticated)
Leader
Yes
Contact
Yes
Positions
Position
Principal or Chief Investigator
Position:
Principal or Chief Investigator
 Principal investigator refers to the person(s) in charge of a research project
Start Date
01-Apr-2024
End Date
---
Roles
No Entries

Organisations

Name
The University of Western Australia

Roles
Role
Lead Research Organisation
Role:
Lead Research Organisation
 The research organistion administratively responsible for the project; administering organisation
Start Date
2024-04-01
End Date
---

RelatedObjects

Citation
Cowan, M. A., Cooper, V., Douglas, M. M., Rawlinson, M., Rossiter-Rachor, N. A., & Setterfield, S. A. (2026). Contemporary management has altered the fire regime of a large protected area: evaluating management outcomes and future directions. Fire Ecology, 22(1).
Type
Journal Article
Categories
Output
Citation
Cowan, M., Cooper, V., Douglas, M., Rawlinson, M., Rossiter-Rachor, N., & Setterfield, S. (2026). Data for: Contemporary management has altered the fire regime of a large protected area [Dataset]. The University of Western Australia.
Type
Dataset
Categories
Output
Citation
---
Type
Conference Poster
Categories
Output

Alternate Identifier

No Entries

Alternate URLs

Related RAiDs

Title
NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub (10.71821/ffc970c8)
Relation
IsPartOf
Relation:
IsPartOf
 Relates a subproject back to its parent project

Access

Type
Open Access
Type:
Open Access
 Open access refers to a resource that is immediately and permanently online, and free for all on the Web, without financial and technical barriers.The resource is either stored in the repository or referenced to an external journal or trustworthy archive.
Language
---
Text
---
Embargo Expiry
---

Subjects

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Raw Data

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