The Upland Heath Swamps Plot Network Fire History Data Package records the history of fire across 54 established swamp monitoring sites in upland swamps scattered throughout the study area (Keith and Myerscough 1993). The fire history prior to the establishment of plots in 1983 has been compiled from records and maps held by Sydney Catchment Authority and the National Parks and Wildlife Service including wildfires and prescribed burns (Keith et al. 2006). Since 1982, fire occurrences on the plots have been verified by personal observations (David Keith). Spatial distributions of upland swamp vegetation was interpreted visually from aerial photography flow in 1960 and 1998, and the data were digitally captured and stored. The Upland Heath Swamps Plot Network research plots were established in 1983. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Upland Heath Swamps Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://www.ltern.org.au/index.php/ltern-plot-networks/upland-heath-swamps.

Geotiff Images of fire affected areas in Kakadu National Park for the years 2013 based on the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). These Images are clipped from geotiff images of fire affected areas in far northern Australia available from North Australian Fire Information (NAFI) website. The images have a resolution of 250 m (pixel size) and each burnt pixel is tagged with the month that covers the largest part of the date interval in which the burnt pixel was detected. These data cover Kakadu National Park, but are part of a larger data set that extends across far northern WA down to 21 degrees S, across the entire NT (down to 26 degrees S) and all of Qld (down to 29 degrees S). The NAFI mapping covers the years 2000 to present and since 2012, the mapping also includes northern SA down to 29 degrees S. Mapping landscapes north of 20 degrees S in WA, NT and Qld has been validated by aerial and on-ground transects across northern Australia.

Geotiff Images of fire affected areas in Kakadu National Park for the years 2012 based on the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). These Images are clipped from geotiff images of fire affected areas in far northern Australia available from North Australian Fire Information (NAFI) website. The images have a resolution of 250 m (pixel size) and each burnt pixel is tagged with the month that covers the largest part of the date interval in which the burnt pixel was detected. These data cover Kakadu National Park, but are part of a larger data set that extends across far northern WA down to 21 degrees S, across the entire NT (down to 26 degrees S) and all of Qld (down to 29 degrees S). The NAFI mapping covers the years 2000 to present and since 2012, the mapping also includes northern SA down to 29 degrees S. Mapping landscapes north of 20 degrees S in WA, NT and Qld has been validated by aerial and on-ground transects across northern Australia.

This package contains Geotiff images of fire affected areas in Kakadu and Nitmiluk National Park for the years 1989 onwards, and Litchfield National Park for the years 1990 onwards. Pre-2000 images are based on Landsat imagery and attribution of each burnt pixel is either early or late. Images from 2000 onwards is based on NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and each burnt pixel is tagged with the month that covers the largest part of the date interval in which the burnt pixel was detected; these Images are clipped from geotiff images of fire affected areas in far northern Australia available from North Australian Fire Information (NAFI) website. The images have a resolution of 250 m (pixel size). These data cover Kakadu, Litchfield and Nitmiluk National Parks, but are part of a larger data set that extends across far northern WA down to 21 degrees S, across the entire NT (down to 26 degrees S) and all of Qld (down to 29 degrees S). The NAFI mapping covers the years 2000 to present and since 2012, the mapping also includes northern SA down to 29 degrees S. Mapping landscapes north of 20 degrees S in WA, NT and Qld has been validated by aerial and on-ground transects across northern Australia.

The Three Parks Savanna Fire-effects Network was established in 1994 with the primary aim of training management staff and assisting with the development of adaptive approaches to conservation-based fire management in regional savanna systems. The full program assesses fire regimes and their impacts on plant and vertebrate biodiversity components. The program comprises two complementary elements - mapping of fire histories based upon interpretation of satellite imagery, and assessment of vegetation and faunal components at a large series of permanent monitoring plots located across respective parks. The vegetation data comprises quantitative assessment of all species in three major strata within 800 square metre plots. Faunal assessments are undertaken in the immediate vicinity of respective plots. The occurrence of fire is assessed bi-annually on-ground and satellite derived fire mapping is conducted three times a year. A full inventory of vegetation is undertaken every five years. Terrestrial vertebrates are monitored systematically but on an irregular and less frequent basis. This dataset comprises on-ground assessment of fire occurrence and severity conducted at 132 plots located in Kakadu National Park. Fire occurrence is recorded based on on-ground plot visits, and from aerial ground-truthing assessments of the park’s satellite-based fire mapping programme. Fire severity scores (ordinal values 1–3) are assessed from field photographs. Fire occurrence and severity is assessed in three seasonal periods: early dry season (e), late dry season (L) and wet season (w) for each year. *Note: Plots are located within a National Park and physical access to the plots is restricted. **Note: This package used to be called "Monitoring the impacts of fire regimes on vegetation in northern Australia: Plot based fire severity monitoring data, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory Australia, 1994–2011", but was relabelled for consistency.

Geotiff Images of fire affected areas in Kakadu National Park for the year 2014 based on the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). These Images are clipped from geotiff images of fire affected areas in far northern Australia available from North Australian Fire Information (NAFI) website. The images have a resolution of 250 m (pixel size) and each burnt pixel is tagged with the month that covers the largest part of the date interval in which the burnt pixel was detected. These data cover Kakadu National Park, but are part of a larger data set that extends across far northern WA down to 21 degrees S, across the entire NT (down to 26 degrees S) and all of Qld (down to 29 degrees S). The NAFI mapping covers the years 2000 to present and since 2012, the mapping also includes northern SA down to 29 degrees S. Mapping landscapes north of 20 degrees S in WA, NT and Qld has been validated by aerial and on-ground transects across northern Australia.

Geotiff Images of fire affected areas in Nitmiluk National Park for the year 2014 based on the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). These Images are clipped from geotiff images of fire affected areas in far northern Australia available from North Australian Fire Information (NAFI) website. The images have a resolution of 250 m (pixel size) and each burnt pixel is tagged with the month that covers the largest part of the date interval in which the burnt pixel was detected. These data cover Kakadu National Park, but are part of a larger data set that extends across far northern WA down to 21 degrees S, across the entire NT (down to 26 degrees S) and all of Qld (down to 29 degrees S). The NAFI mapping covers the years 2000 to present and since 2012, the mapping also includes northern SA down to 29 degrees S. Mapping landscapes north of 20 degrees S in WA, NT and Qld has been validated by aerial and on-ground transects across northern Australia.

Geotiff Images of fire affected areas in Litchfield National Park for the year 2014 based on the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). These Images are clipped from geotiff images of fire affected areas in far northern Australia available from North Australian Fire Information (NAFI) website. The images have a resolution of 250 m (pixel size) and each burnt pixel is tagged with the month that covers the largest part of the date interval in which the burnt pixel was detected. These data cover Kakadu National Park, but are part of a larger data set that extends across far northern WA down to 21 degrees S, across the entire NT (down to 26 degrees S) and all of Qld (down to 29 degrees S). The NAFI mapping covers the years 2000 to present and since 2012, the mapping also includes northern SA down to 29 degrees S. Mapping landscapes north of 20 degrees S in WA, NT and Qld has been validated by aerial and on-ground transects across northern Australia.

We used a case study in an Australian wet montane forest to establish how predictive fire simulation models can be interpreted as management tools to identify potential fire refuges. We tested the ability of a topographically based fire prediction model developed by Mackey et al (2002) in the O’Shannassy and Maroondah water catchments, NE north-east of Melbourne, Australia, with fire severity data collected following a large wildfire in 2009 in the same area. We derived our fire severity data from a larger map created by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (2009), using SPOT satellite imagery and the normalised-burnt ratio. We examined the relationship between the probability of fire refuge occurrence as predicted by an existing fire refuge model and fire severity experienced during a large wildfire. We also examined the extent to which local fire severity was influenced by fire severity in the surrounding landscape. We used a combination of statistical approaches including generalised linear modelling, variogram analysis and receiver operating characteristics and area under the curve analysis (ROC AUC). We found that the amount of unburnt habitat and the factors influencing the retention and location of fire refuges varied with fire conditions. Under extreme fire conditions, the distribution of fire refuges was limited to only extremely sheltered, fire-resistant regions of the landscape. During extreme fire conditions, fire severity patterns were largely determined by stochastic factors that could not be predicted by the model. When fire conditions were moderate, physical landscape properties appeared to mediate fire severity distribution. Our study demonstrates that land managers can employ predictive landscape fire models to identify the broader climatic and spatial domain within which fire refuges are likely to be present. It is essential that within these envelopes, forest is protected from logging, roads and other developments so that the ecological processes related to the establishment and subsequent use of fire refuges are maintained. Department of Sustainability and Environment (2009) Remote sensing guideline for assessing landscape-scale fire severity in Victoria’s forest estate. Unpublished technical manual., Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne. Mackey, B., D. Lindenmayer, M. Gill, M. McCarthy, and J. Lindesay. 2002. Wildlife, Fire and Future Climate: A Forest Ecosystem Analysis. CSIRO publishing, Collingwood.

We measured 5 years of growth of 335 Cyathea australis and Dicksonia antarctica after a large wildfire in 2009 in south-eastern Australia. The ferns were in 4 separate geographic locations (Wallaby Creek, Marysville, Toolangi and O’Shannassy) and sites within each area had different environmental variables, which were measured (slope, aspect, elevation). Tree ferns had overall height measured using a tape measure and the new post-fire growth measured using calipers. The tree ferns were measured to determine average growth rates of the two species and which of the environmental variables were important for fern growth. We found growth rates of these two species were largely unaffected by static environmental variables or geographic location. However, growth rates were significantly related to initial height at the time of the fire; a finding consistent in both species and all geographic locations. These data underpinned the conclusions and analysis in the paper "Non-linear growth in tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica and Cyathea australis" by David P. Blair, Wade Blanchard, Sam C. Banks, David B. Lindenmayer published in PLOS ONE (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176908).