Low- and high-intensity fire in the riparian savanna: demographic impacts in an avian model species and implications for ecological fire management

Climate change is driving changes in fire frequency and intensity, making it more urgent for conservation managers to understand how species and ecosystems respond. In tropical monsoonal savannas – Earth’s most fire-prone landscapes – ecological fire management aims to prevent intense wildfires late in the dry season through prescribed low-intensity burns early in the dry season. Riparian habitats embedded within tropical savannas represent critical refuges for biodiversity, yet are particularly fire-sensitive. Better understanding of the impact of fire – including prescribed burns – on riparian habitats is therefore key but requires long-term detailed post-fire monitoring of species’ demographic rates, as effects may persist and/or be delayed. We analyse impacts of (prescribed) low-intensity and (prescribed but escaped) high-intensity fire in northern Australian riparian and adjacent savanna habitat. We quantify multi-year impacts on density, survival, reproduction and dispersal of an..., ,