Three Parks Savanna Fire-effects Plot Network: Plot-based Fire Severity and Biomass Monitoring, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
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 <i>Callitris</i>, 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 <a href=" http://www.ltern.org.au/index.php/ltern-plot-networks/three-parks-savanna ">LTERN</a>
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2017-10-18
- Date (Publication)
- 2017-10-18
- Date (Revision)
- 2025-12-11
- Edition
- 1
Identifier
Publisher
Author
Charles Darwin University - Russell-Smith, Jeremy (Adjunct Research Fellow)
Ellengowan Drive, Casuarina, Northern Territory, 0810, Australia
Casuarina
Northern Territory
0810
Australia
Collaborator
Darwin Centre for Bushfires Research - Gillespie, Graeme ()
Ellengowan Drive, Casuarina, Northern Territory, 0810, Australia
Casuarina
Northern Territory
0810
Australia
Author
University of Queensland - Vogado, Nara ()
Chancellors Place, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia
St Lucia
Queensland
4072
Australia
- Website
- https://www.tern.org.au/
- Purpose
- Assess vegetation structure and fire effects on trees.
- Credit
- We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
- Credit
- The authors acknowledge the contributions of park staff and traditional owners from Kakadu and Nitmiluk National Parks in laying the foundations of the work described here, and the singular importance of long-term funding support provided through Parks Australia (for Kakadu) and the Northern Territory’s Parks and Wildlife Service (for Nitmiluk).</br><br> The work was also supported by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, the Nature Conservancy, Meat and Livestock Australia, ConocoPhillips Limited, and the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance Limited. We acknowledge the financial support of Parks Australia (for the Kakadu vegetation plots) and the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service (for the Litchfield and Nitmiluk plots) to carry out the vegetation monitoring. The Three Parks program is part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network, a facility of Australia's Terrestrial Ecological Research Network.
- Status
- Completed
Point of contact
Charles Darwin University - Russell-Smith, Jeremy (Adjunct Research Fellow)
Ellengowan Drive, Casuarina, Northern Territory, 0810, Australia
Ellengowan Drive
Casuarina
Northern Territory
0810
Australia
- Topic category
-
- Biota
- Environment
Extent
- Description
- Kakadu, Litchfield and Nitmiluk National Parks, Northern Territory, Australia
N
S
E
W
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Temporal extent
- Time period
- 1994-12-13 2016-03-18
- Title
- Russell-Smith J., and Edwards A. C. (2006). Seasonality and fire severity in savanna landscapes of monsoonal northern Australia. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 15(4): 541-550
- Website
-
Russell-Smith J., and Edwards A. C. (2006). Seasonality and fire severity in savanna landscapes of monsoonal northern Australia. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 15(4): 541-550
Related documentation
- Title
- Andersen A. N., Cook G. D., Corbett L. K., Douglas M. M., Eager R. W., Russell‐Smith J. E. R. E. M. Y., and Woinarski J. C. (2005). Fire frequency and biodiversity conservation in Australian tropical savannas: implications from the Kapalga fire experiment. Austral ecology, 30 (2): 155-167
- Title
- Russell-Smith J., Evans J., Edwards A. C., and Simms A. (2017). Assessing ecological performance thresholds in fire-prone Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Ecosphere, 8 (7): e01856
- Website
-
Russell-Smith J., Evans J., Edwards A. C., and Simms A. (2017). Assessing ecological performance thresholds in fire-prone Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. Ecosphere, 8 (7): e01856
Related documentation
- Title
- Murphy B. P., Whitehead P. J., Evans J., Yates C. P., Edwards A. C., MacDermott H. J., and Russell-Smith J. (2023). Using a demographic model to project the long-term effects of fire management on tree biomass in Australian savannas. Ecological Monographs, e1564
- Website
-
Murphy B. P., Whitehead P. J., Evans J., Yates C. P., Edwards A. C., MacDermott H. J., and Russell-Smith J. (2023). Using a demographic model to project the long-term effects of fire management on tree biomass in Australian savannas. Ecological Monographs, e1564
Related documentation
- Title
- Williams Richard J., Zerihun Ayalsew, Montagu Kelvin D., Hoffman Madonna, Hutley Lindsay B., Chen Xiaoyong (2005) Allometry for estimating aboveground tree biomass in tropical and subtropical eucalypt woodlands: towards general predictive equations. Australian Journal of Botany 53, 607-619.
- Title
- Bennett, L. T., C. Aponte, K. G. Tolhurst, M. Löw, and T. G. Baker. 2013. Decreases in standing tree-based carbon stocks associated with repeated prescribed fires in a temperate mixed-species eucalypt forest. Forest Ecology and Management 306:243-255.
- Website
-
Bennett, L. T., C. Aponte, K. G. Tolhurst, M. Löw, and T. G. Baker. 2013. Decreases in standing tree-based carbon stocks associated with repeated prescribed fires in a temperate mixed-species eucalypt forest. Forest Ecology and Management 306:243-255.
Related documentation
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
- GCMD Science Keywords
- ANZSRC Fields of Research
- TERN Parameter Vocabulary
-
- scientific name
- Unitless
- relative species abundance
- Percent
- growth form
- Unitless
- plant height
- Metre
- individual count
- Number
- fire scar
- Unitless
- stem diameter
- Centimetre
- stem height
- Metre
- stem individual biomass
- Kilogram
- dead stem biomass
- Kilogram
- stand biomass
- Tonne per Hectare
- standing dead tree biomass
- Tonne per Hectare
- litter ground cover
- Percent
- rock ground cover
- Percent
- crown cover
- Unitless
- leaf litter cover area
- Percent
- rock cover mean
- Percent
- mean canopy cover
- Unitless
- non-woody vascular plant cover
- Percent
- QUDT Units of Measure
- GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
- GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- File name
- 88x31.png
- File description
- CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
- File type
- png
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
- CC-BY
- Edition
- 4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. <br />Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN. <br /><br />Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting
- Other constraints
- Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- three_parks_savanna_plot_level_biomass_data
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- three_parks_savanna_stem_level_biomass_data
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- three_parks_savanna_species_abundance_data
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- three_parks_savanna_species_count_data
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- three_parks_savanna_plot_cover_data.
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- three_parks_savanna_data_dictionary
Distribution Information
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
Distributor
Distributor
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia
Indooroopilly
Queensland
4068
Australia
- OnLine resource
- TERN EcoPlots Portal
- OnLine resource
- ro-crate-metadata.json
Resource lineage
- Statement
- <ul style="list-style-type: disc;"> <li>Plot set-up<ul style="list-style-type: circle;"> <li>The over-all plot sizes are 40 x 20 m. 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.</li> <li>A permanent photo picket with number plate is placed 10 m inside the plot parallel with the plot sides.</li> <li>The corners and inner transects are marked by metal droppers.</li> <li>The inner 40 x 10 m plot is delineated with measuring tapes. Two 50 m tapes are laid out 5 m 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.</li> <li>NB: some plots are not strictly 40 m due to plot landscape constraints.</li> <li>Instruments: Metal star pickets, GPS, 50 m measuring tapes</li></ul> </li> <li>Record of fire occurrence<ul style="list-style-type: circle;"> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li></ul> </li> <li>Fire severity score<ul style="list-style-type: circle;"> <li>Fire severity is scored for each recorded fire event from plot photos.</li> <li>Plot photos are scored by a member of the research team and fire managers from the park.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>Fire severity is recorded using one or more the following categories:<ul style="list-style-type: square;"> <li>1 = Low</li> <li>2 = Moderate</li> <li>3 = High</li> <li>P = Patchily burnt</li> <li>U = Unburnt</li> <li>B = Burnt. Photo records missing</li> <li>wet = Burn that occurred in the wet season</li> <li>If no assessment is done the fire severity is recorded as NA.</li></ul> </ul></li> <li>Plot photos are taken over the plot so the sampling area is equal to the area of the plot, 40 x 40 m. The frequency is twice per year, early dry season and late dry season.</li> <li>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 10 m inside the plot. </li> <li>Biomass calculations: Biomass was calculated using allometric equations from Williams et al (2005). The biomass of dead stems was calculated using a reduction factor of 855 outlined in Bennett et al (2013) .</li> </ul>
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Reference System Information
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG/EPSG:4283
- Reference system type
- Geodetic Geographic 2D
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/2bfb7ff7-5468-41ae-981d-53ad59109359
- Title
- TERN GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Point of contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/2bfb7ff7-5468-41ae-981d-53ad59109359
Point-of-truth metadata URL
- Date info (Creation)
- 2023-03-23T00:00:00.000000+00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2025-12-11T22:30:34.425671+00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
- Edition
- 1
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
- Title
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
- Date (published)
- 2021
- Edition
- 1.0
Identifier
Overviews
Spatial extent
N
S
E
W
Provided by
Associated resources
Not available