LTERN Data Portal

Originally, in 2002, 110 permanent sites were identified for the study at Booderee National Park using two stratifying variables: (1) broad vegetation type (heathland, forest, woodland, etc.); and (2) past fire history – classified into four classes of time since the last fire (0-10 years, 11-20 years, 21-30 years and >30 years).

When the project started in 2003, it was based on the original number of sites, but in March 2007 the number of sites increased to 130, as a result of including 20 new sites set up as part of the “Bitou experiment”.

Features of the experimental design are: stratified random site selection, replication of classes, replication proportional to area, sampling of the plots both before and after unplanned wildfire, the occurrence of unburned ‘control’ sites and treatment (burned) sites, and continued surveys over time. Commencing at the 0 m point a steel post has been placed at 20 m intervals along a 100 m long transect.

Until December 2010, pitfall traps were used to capture small reptiles and frogs. Six pitfalls were located at intervals of 20 m along a 100 m transect, and they were opened on three consecutive nights for each survey conducted.

From 2011, sites were surveyed for reptiles and frogs using artificial substrates (tiles, tins, and wooden sleepers). Two sheets of corrugated iron, four roof tiles and four ‘half-length’ railway sleepers were placed at the 20 m and 80 m points of a transect. The transects were checked each year in winter/spring and again in summer. A time-controlled active search along the permanent 100 m-long transect occurred every one to two years.