LTERN Data Portal

Three Parks Savanna Fire-effects Plot Network: Plot-based Fire Severity Monitoring, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, 2014

Citation

Russell-Smith, J; Director of National Parks (Parks Australia); Darwin Centre for Bushfires Research, Charles Darwin University (): Three Parks Savanna Fire-effects Plot Network: Plot-based Fire Severity Monitoring, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, 2014. Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://www.ltern.org.au/knb/metacat/ltern.152.14/html

Download EML
Identifier
docid
ltern.152.14
Data Creators
Individual
Professor Jeremy Russell-Smith
Position
Plot Leader
Organization
Charles Darwin University
Organization
Director of National Parks (Parks Australia)
Organization
Darwin Centre for Bushfires Research, Charles Darwin University
Abstract

This data package comprises fire severity scores from Kakadu in 2014. A total of 220 permanent monitoring plots (40 m x 20 m) were established across three parks (Kakadu, Litchfield and Nitmiluk) in 1994-1995 to monitor biotic change. Of these, 132 plots are located in Kakadu. These sample a variety of landform and vegetation type/habitat conditions. A substantial proportion of plots were positioned deliberately at sites likely to reveal environmental dynamics, especially at ecotones and in patches of fire-sensitive vegetation. For example stands of Callitris, sandstone heaths. As well, many plots are located at, or in the near vicinity of, intensively managed sites such as camp-grounds and other tourist destinations. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Three Park Savanna Fire-effects Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://www.ltern.org.au/index.php/ltern-plot-networks/three-parks-savanna.

Contacts for Questions on the Use and Interpretation of Data
Individual
Professor Jeremy Russell-Smith
Position
Plot Leader
Organization
Charles Darwin University
Address
Darwin. NT 0909
Australia
Phone
voice
08 8988 6215
Email Address
jeremy.russell-smith@cdu.edu.au
Project Information and Data Owners
Title
Three Parks Savanna Fire-effects Plot Network
Personnel
Role
Data Owner
Individual
Professor Jeremy Russell-Smith
Position
Plot Leader
Organization
Charles Darwin University
Role
Plot Network Leader (fauna)
Individual
Dr Graeme Gillespie
Position
Director of terrestrial ecosystems
Organization
Department of Land Resource Management Northern Territory Government
Funding

Since 2012 this project has been part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN). This work was supported by the Australian Government's Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (www.tern.org.au) - an Australian research infrastructure facility established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and Education Infrastructure Fund - Super Science Initiative through the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. This project has also received funding through Parks Australia, NT Parks & Wildlife Service, Tropical Savannas CRC, and Darwin Centre for Bushfires Research (Charles Darwin University).

Methods and Sampling Information
Methods
Method Step 1
Description
Plot set-up

The over-all plot sizes are 40 x 20 metre. Each plot is permanently located by a central metal star picket and GPS waypoint. Plots relocated by helicopter have a round large white lid on top to assist sighting the plot from air.

A permanent photo picket with number plate is placed 10 metre inside the plot parallel with the plot sides.

The corners and inner transects are marked by metal droppers.

The inner 40 x 10 metre plot is delineated with measuring tapes. Two 50 metre tapes are laid out 5 metre either side of central photo picket, parallel to the longer central axis, starting at zero on the left hand side heading to the back of the plot, and again at zero on the right hand side heading to the top of the plot.

NB: some plots are not strictly 40 metre due to plot landscape constraints.

Instrument
  • Metal star pickets
  • GPS
  • 50 metre measuring tapes
Method Step 2
Description
Record of fire occurrence

Fire occurrence is recorded based on on-ground plot visits, and from aerial ground-truthing assessments of each park’s satellite-based fire mapping programme.

An assessment is made as to whether the plot was unburnt, patchily burnt (ground cover at least 20% unburnt), or burnt, in three seasonal periods as follows: Wet season (w) - from onset of rains (typically November) until their cessation (typically March - April); Early dry season (e) - from end of wet season until end of July; Late dry season (L) - from August until start of rains.

Method Step 3
Description
Ground-based photos

Photos are supposed to be taken biannually, post wet season and late dry season. Often parks staff only manage one photo per year.

These images are not stored as part of this data package due to their size, but can be provided on request from Dr Russell-Smith or LTERN.

Instrument
  • Digital camera
Method Step 4
Description
Fire severity score

Fire severity is scored for each recorded fire event from plot photos.

Plot photos are scored by a member of the research team and fire managers from the park.

Two seasonal photos per plot in any 1 year are not always available. However, in nearly all instances it is possible to confidently attribute fires to (1) season, given recourse to comprehensive plot records; and (2) severity class, by close examination of differences between foliage condition and vegetation structure in photo temporal sequences.

Note: This method may not detect all fires of very low severity or high patchiness occurring especially in wet or early dry season periods given rapid post-fire regrowth under high soil moisture conditions.

Fire severity is recorded using one or more the following categories:

• 1 = Low

• 2 = Moderate

• 3 = High

• P = Patchily burnt

• U = Unburnt

• B = Burnt. Photo records missing.

• wet = Burn that occurred in the wet season

If no assessment is done the fire severity is recorded as NA.

Sampling
Study Extent Description

Plot photos are taken over the plot so the sampling area is equal to the area of the plot, 40m * 40m. The frequency is twice per year, early dry season and late dry season.

Sampling Description

The plot photo is taken from the middle picket along the the front edge of the plot, facing the a permanent photo point picket 10m inside the plot. See also: Russell-Smith J, Edwards AC (2006) Seasonality and fire severity in savanna landscapes of monsoonal northern Australia. International Journal of Wildland Fire 15, 541–550. Williams RJ, Gill AM, Moore PHR (2003) Fire behaviour. In ‘Fire in tropical savannas: the Kapalga experiment’. (Eds AN Andersen, GD Cook, RJ Williams) pp. 33–46. (Springer-Verlag: New York).

Associated Parties
Role
Land managers
Organization
Director of National Parks (Parks Australia)
Keywords and Subject Categories
LTERN Monitoring Themes
  • Vegetation structure
  • Fire
ANZSRC-FOR
  • 0501
  • 0502
  • 0602
GCMD
  • Earth Science > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Fire Ecology
  • Earth Science > Human Dimensions > Environmental Impacts > Prescribed Burns
  • Earth Science > Biosphere > Vegetation
  • Earth Science > Biosphere > Terrestrial Ecosystems > Savannas
Keywords
  • Fire
  • National Parks
  • Savanna
  • Kakadu
  • Vegetation
Geographic Coverage
Geographic Description
Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
Bounding Coordinates
West
131.88766 degrees
 
East
133.00257 degrees
 
North
-12.11059 degrees
 
South
-13.94659 degrees
 
Temporal Coverage
Date
2014
Intellectual Rights, Licence and Usage Conditions

CC-BY-4_0 Special Conditions Prior to publication of research utilising this data - the data provider (Jeremy Russell-Smith) must be consulted and provide consent.

Data Table
tpsk_plot_based_fire_severity_monitoring_2014_wide_format_p213t474.csv
Name
tpsk_plot_based_fire_severity_monitoring_2014_wide_format_p213t474.csv
Description
Fire severity scores for Kakadu 2014 in wide format
Attribute Information
plot
Name
plot
Definition
Plot identifier
Measurement Type
nominal
Measurement Domain
Text Domain
Definition
Character
e2014
Name
e2014
Definition
Fire severity score for 2014 early dry season
Measurement Type
nominal
Measurement Domain
Enumerated Domain
Code Definition
1
Low severity burn. Leaf scorch height less than or equal to 2 m and/or patchily burnt (where patchy is defined as at least 20% of plot unburnt). Fire line intensity <<1000
2
Moderate severity burn. Leaf scorch height greater than 2 m scorched to mid-canopy only. Fire line intensity <1000-2000
3
High severity burn. Leaf scorch height greater than 2 m, canopy scorched. Fire line intensity <1000-10000+
P
Patchily burnt (where patchy is defined as at least 20% of plot unburnt).
U
Unburnt. Photo records missing.
B
Burnt. Photo records missing. Unable to score severity.
W
Burn that occurred in the wet season
NA
Not assessed
l2014
Name
l2014
Definition
Fire severity score for 2014 late dry season
Measurement Type
nominal
Measurement Domain
Enumerated Domain
Code Definition
1
Low severity burn. Leaf scorch height less than or equal to 2 m and/or patchily burnt (where patchy is defined as at least 20% of plot unburnt). Fire line intensity <<1000
2
Moderate severity burn. Leaf scorch height greater than 2 m scorched to mid-canopy only. Fire line intensity <1000-2000
3
High severity burn. Leaf scorch height greater than 2 m, canopy scorched. Fire line intensity <1000-10000+
P
Patchily burnt (where patchy is defined as at least 20% of plot unburnt).
U
Unburnt. Photo records missing.
B
Burnt. Photo records missing. Unable to score severity.
W
Burn that occurred in the wet season
NA
Not assessed
Number Of Records
133
Physical Structure Description
Object Name
tpsk_plot_based_fire_severity_monitoring_2014_wide_format_p213t474.csv
Size
3074 byte
Text Format
Number of Header Lines
1
Record Delimiter
#x0A
Attribute Orientation
column
Simple Delimited
Field Delimiter
,
Distribution
Online
URL
ltern.161.2
Access
Access Control
Auth System
knb
Order
allowFirst
Allow:
PermissionPrincipal
[all] cn=submitters,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
[read] cn=pn_3parks_savanna,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
[read] cn=allusers,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
tpsk_plot_based_fire_severity_monitoring_2014_long_format_p213t887.csv
Name
tpsk_plot_based_fire_severity_monitoring_2014_long_format_p213t887.csv
Description
Fire severity scores for Kakadu 2014 in long format
Attribute Information
plot
Name
plot
Definition
Plot identifier
Measurement Type
nominal
Measurement Domain
Text Domain
Definition
Character
year
Name
year
Definition
Year of survey
Measurement Type
dateTime
Measurement Domain
Format
YYYY
season
Name
season
Definition
Season
Measurement Type
nominal
Measurement Domain
Enumerated Domain
Code Definition
EDS
Early dry season
LDS
Late dry season
WET
Wet season
fire_severity_score
Name
fire_severity_score
Definition
Fire severity score
Measurement Type
nominal
Measurement Domain
Enumerated Domain
Code Definition
1
Low severity burn. Leaf scorch height less than or equal to 2 m and/or patchily burnt (where patchy is defined as at least 20% of plot unburnt). Fire line intensity <<1000
2
Moderate severity burn. Leaf scorch height greater than 2 m scorched to mid-canopy only. Fire line intensity <1000-2000
3
High severity burn. Leaf scorch height greater than 2 m, canopy scorched. Fire line intensity <1000-10000+
P
Patchily burnt (where patchy is defined as at least 20% of plot unburnt).
U
Unburnt. Photo records missing.
B
Burnt. Photo records missing. Unable to score severity.
W
Burn that occurred in the wet season
NA
Not assessed
Number Of Records
265
Physical Structure Description
Object Name
tpsk_plot_based_fire_severity_monitoring_2014_long_format_p213t887.csv
Size
8508 byte
Text Format
Number of Header Lines
1
Record Delimiter
#x0A
Attribute Orientation
column
Simple Delimited
Field Delimiter
,
Distribution
Online
URL
ltern.162.3
Access
Access Control
Auth System
knb
Order
allowFirst
Allow:
PermissionPrincipal
[all] cn=submitters,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
[read] cn=allusers,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
[read] cn=pn_3parks_savanna,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
Access
Access Control
Auth System
knb
Order
allowFirst
Allow:
PermissionPrincipal
[read] public
[all] cn=submitters,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
[read] cn=pn_3parks_savanna,o=unaffiliated,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org