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

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 managemen

SUBMITTER: Bowman DMJS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9156674 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature