Short term effects of a prescribed burn on invertebrates in grassy woodland in southeastern Australia

8 Pages·1997·0.49 MB·English

by  P. Greenslade

Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 56(2):305-3 I 2 ( I 997) 28 February 1997
https://d.oorig/10.24199/j.mmv.1997.56.18
SHORTTE RME FFECOTFSA PRESCRIBBUERDN OINN VERTEBRIANTG ERSA SSY
WOODLANIDNS OUTH-EASTAEURSNT RALIA
PENELOGPREE ENSLADE
CSlRO. Division of Entomology, GPO Box 1700, Canberrn. ACT 2601. Australia
Abstract
Greenslade. P .. 1997. Short term effects of a prescribed burn on invertebrates in grassy
f
woodland in south-eastern Australia. Memooit.rhsMe u seoufVm i ct56o(2)r: 3i05a-3 12.
The effect of fire on invertebrates in a remnant undisturbed white box woodlandwith a
Themuendderasto rey is reported. The woodland was burnt experimentally in May 1994
with half the plots fenced against grazing. Invertebrates were sampled every four months for
16 months using a suction sampler. Initially, lower numbers of invertebrate individuals were
collected on the burnt compared with the unburnt plots but after sixteen months this dif­
ference had disappeared for all higher taxa. However there were differences in composition
of collembolan fauna and relative abundance of species caught between burnt and unburnt
plots and between fenced and unfenced plots.
Introduction beorf s peceixehsis bmiatsl cla olfed si stri­
butiCohnoe.t a l(.1 99i5na)r ,e poonrJ te rvis
AlthosuogmAheu strpallaicnaotnm muniBtaiNyea st iPoanraNklS, W s,t a"tteha es sumption
araed apttofe idrt hefre,e quetnicmyia,nn gdt hiaaftl h la biatraceto sn setrhveaenlid ln vert­
inteonfbs uirtnyi ng tihnrefla uotefren e cceosev b­raatrceeos n seirgsve ende wreafllollu yn ded"
eroyfs trucatnudr ef utnotc htpeir oensf tiarteae nq du oNtaed o(l9 1y8 4H)o.w etvheairss s pu­m
(Che1a9!9,T6 o;l hu1r9s9t6T,)o .ofr equetni toh na bse esnh obwynan umboesfrt udtiboee s
fireosrat otaabls eonffic reae r beo tlhi kteol fayl se (GraeneNdne sw1l,9a 9da1en i dn cluded
resiunll otos fss p ecainfedos er a ccho mmunirteyf ereUnnctteihslie) n .v ertfaeubnrhaaa tse
typteh,ie n tebrevtawlbe uernwn hsi icsoh p tib­eesnu rveaynedmd a craon dm icrohabitats
mumf osru staiwniadlbiliff (leGirit1 ly9l 9,I6 n) r.e quirsde emteenrtmainfinyre meda ,n agement
sompel ant comtmhueinrseie vt iideestn oc pel abna soendv egetcaotmimounn ailtoinees
suggtehstathta e l teirnetde annsfrdie tqyu enccayn ngouta ratnoct oenes etrhiven ev ertebrate
ofb urnsiinngEc uer opseeatnt lieasmff eenctft a­una.
inign vertaebbudrnaantacene ed v ecna usinAgr evoifep wr evwiooruoksnfi raen idn vert­
loceaxlt inc(tYioor1nk9s,9 L6o;w e1,9 95e)b.r ahtabeses ep nu blibsyFh reid(e1 n9d9a 6n)d
Alterniantg riavsesltlyha aenb dsse,n ficree m oofrr ee cednitslcyu bsyGs reede nseltaa ld.e
mayb er educflionrgi dsitviecr (sPirtoyb( e1r9 9I6nm) a.n syt udoinee ffse ocftw si lfidr es
199I5mt)a .y a lasffoe ct invdeerpteenabdnr­pdar teessc bruirbonensid n vertienAb ursa­tes
anotn e arsluyc ccspsliaonfntoafsrlo oodr trailditeain,fi cahtaibsoe net not hlee voefl
shelter. ord(eNre unma annTdo llh1u9r9sA1tb;,b ott,
Thaei omfm osfute rle ducbtuironinits no g 1 98C4o;y1 ,9 9H6u;t saonnKd i rk1b9y8a.5n )d
redutchreei osfkw ildsfoti hroeep ,t icmoanl­t hessteu dhiaevtsee ndteosd h oawr apriedc ov­
ditiroenqsuf iordrei dff eprleancntot m munietriiyen as b undaanncdre e preseonfta altli on
arneo uts uaclolnys i(dGeir1le9ld9,I 6 it)ns .o wo rdaeftresfir r Meo.r eosvoemrse t udiinedsi ­
increasinglhyo wervetechrfioa.rgtm en a ins­ceadt tehdia ntv ertreebsrpaottnoses e easas onnd
agempelnatsn hso ublebd a soenkd n owloefd sgietw ee rger eattheartn o t hefi rei tself
three spoonfas lcelos m ponoeftn hfateus n aan d( Fri19e9n6dC),o. n seqsuoemnaetu ltyhh oarvse
flortaob urnsiont gha,a stm ucohft hbei odicvo­ncltuhdtaehtede ff eocnit n vertoepfbr rea­tes
ersoiftt hyee c osyasspt oesms ciabbnle pe r es­cribedi ssbh uortrnetira nmng id n significant
serv(eAdn o1n9,9 2F)i.rm ea nagepmleannt(s A bbeotat lt1. 9,8 N4e;u maannnTd o lhurst,
whipcrho tfleocrtid sitviecr svietgye taan1td9iI 9o) n.
typwei lnlon te cessparroitilenycv te rtebArh aitgpehr opoorftt hiseot nu dhiaevbsee eonn
diverssiinitcnyev. e rtreebsrpatotoane bdsi otainc(t Msa j1e9r8A,0n ;d erasneYdne n1,9 8a5 ).
factodrisff erfernoptmll aynT thsea.yra el asno growuhpi gcehn ehraaaslp lrye ferfeoonrcp ee n
ordoefmr a gnituddei vmesorolrs aeer ,g er hnaubmia-tnahdti sgt he mperaatrufera evso usroe d
305
306 PENELOPE GREENSLADE
by tire, which is not typical ofthe responses of real effect of fire on invertebrate communi-
invertebrates of more humid habitats to fire. ties.
Other higher taxa which could be appropriate Most work on fire and invertebrates in Aus-
"indicators" of fire effects were recommended traliahasbeen carried out in eucalyptwoodland
by Friend (1996) in a review ofresearch on fire and forest. There has only been one previous
and invertebrates in Australia. He concluded studyingrassland(Greenslade, 1994b). Herewe
that five higher taxa were "sensitive to fire". identify the most abundant group collected, the
These were Araneae, Lepidoptera, Isopoda, Collembola, to species and in another study of
Blattodea and Thysanura. However Blattodea, fire incoastal heath (Greensladeetal., 1996)the
Thysanura and Isopoda are not usually present total fauna was identified to morphospecies.
in high enough numbers for data on them to be
sufficiently informative, the taxonomic diffi- Site description
cultiesand high diversityofAraneae maketheir Woodstock cemetery, 33°45'S, 148°51'E, 20 km
tuhsee apsroabnle"misndiincastaomrpglrionugp"Leppriodbolpetmeartaicqaulanatnid- E ofCowra, NSW, is an isolated remnant patch
ofwhiteboxwoodlandwith adense understorey
tatively are well known. Greenslade and Rosser
(1984) and Coy (1996)showed that Dermaptera ndeovmeirnabteeednbcyleTahreemdeadnadgrhaasdslannodt. Tbheiesnsimtoewhna,d
andAmphipodarespectivelywereverysensitive
tofire in havinghighabundancesbeforeburning grazed by stock or burnt for over 50 years. It is
andnothavingreturnedforayearaftertheburn. floristically diverse with 66 native vascular
Where present, they are clearly taxa to be con- plantshavingbeenrecorded fromit(Proberand
Thiele, pers. comm.) In 1994 an experimental
sidered as candidates for "indicators."
site was established within the remnant by bot-
Fire can also effect decomposition processes. anists from CSIRO Division of Plant Industry
For instance, by reducing populations of litter
decomposing invertebrates fire can, even in the (Fig. 1) with the aim ofinvestigating responses
shortterm,resultinamorerapidbuild upoffuel ofplant species richness ofthe ground layer to
aftera prescribed burn because ofreduced rates fire. The total area of the remnant vegetation
of decomposition. Hodda (1991) found fewer was about 5 hectares.
and smaller harvester termite mounds in annu-
ally burnt areas compared to unburnt areas at
Kakadu and in annually burnt areas there was c c
also a reduced loss of leaf litter compared to
unburnt areas and this was directly linked to a
slower rate of removal of plant material by
termite.
c c
|
It hasbeen shown that speciescomposition of
faunas from plant communitiesofdifferent ages
since fire can d—iffer markedly (Friend and
Williams—, 1993 beetles; Little and Friend,
1993 spider—s; Abensperg-Traun and c c
Milewski, 1995 termite—s; Hodda, 1991
-termites; Greenslade, 1994a springtails)and
that thesedifferences in composition canpersist c c
for many years after the fire. Moreover there is
some evidence to show that inappropriate fire 1 2 Blocks 3 4
regimes can cause local extinction of some
species. One example is Leichhardt's grass-
hopper, Petasida ephippigera in Kakadu
National Park(Low 1995)and ineucalyptforest
north of Sydney, Alan York (1994, 1996) has C=controlplots. Allotherplotswereburnt.
shown that there is a suite of fire sensitive ant
ssipveecibeusrwnhiincghreagriemleo.stItfrisocmleaarreatsheurnedfeorreatnhaitntietni-s (pFaaifigtruerriesPfrIeo.nbDceeertd,a.i1lA9sd9jo5a)fc.eexEnpatecrphiaimprelsonttoafislp5lloaXtyso5uatrmea.tsOeWpnoaeordaostfetedoacbckhy
essential to identify the fauna to species and a5mstrip.Theareabetweenpairsofplotswasslashed
morphospecies to adequately demonstrate the before burning.
8
PRESCRIBED BURNING IN GRASSY WOODLAND 307
Experimental design Burning
In order to study fire effects on invertebrates, Twelveofthe plots were burnt on 14 May 1994.
field experimentation is necessary. However if The areas between plots and for a distance of
experimental plots are large enough to simulate about 5 m around the whole experimental area
natural conditions, site differences can swamp were dampened to confine burning to the plots
treatment differences (Friend and Williams, themselves. Burning was carried out from the
1993; Friend, 1996). Alternatively ifsmall plots ground with a hand held flame torch, great care
are used to reduce variability and provide good being taken to protect the control plots. The
replication so that fire effects can be measured intensityofthefirewaslowwithcharredtussock
independently of site variability, edge effects bases remaining after the fire and burnt organic
may influence faunal responses. An alternative material from thegrass and leaflitterremaining
method could be achieved by a nested plot on the ground after the fire. No tree foliage was
designbut practicalproblemsmadethisimposs- burnt.
ible here. At Woodstock small, well replicated
plots were used to study short term effects of Data analysis
an environmental burn on invertebrates in Resultswereanalysed usingthe statistical pack-
grassywhiteboxwoodland and in an alternative ages MULTISTAT, SYSTAT version 5 and
study large plotswere used to study effects ofa GLIM.Theonlyhighertaxapresentinanynum-
wildfire in coastal heathland and results from it bers were Collembola and Acarina which were
are reported elsewhere (Greenslade et al., analysed for samples collected in Oct 1994
199A6)u.niform area ofjust under 100 m by 100 m (gTraabmleG4L)IaMndwiMtahra1P9o9i5ss(oTnabelrero5r),aunsdinagltohgearpirtoh--
which sloped gently to the south and where mic link. Student's twas used tocompare taxon
trees were largely absent, was semlected and abundancesbetweentreatmentsforallsampling
dthievibdleodckisntboeisnigxtseeepnasrmaatleld pblyotas,55m wibdye1s0trimp,. dMaUteLsTIfSorTAwThicahnddaatafulwlyasfacstuofrfiiaclienAtNOusVinAg
Half of each plot was fenced to prevent graz- usingMGLH procedurewasconducted forCol-
ing by kangaroos and rabbits (Fig. 1). Suction lembola, Acarina and total invertebrate abun-
sampling was used to survey the invertebrate dance as dependant variablesandthetreatment
fauna associated with the ground vegetation variables, grazing and burning as independant
within the small plots at this site. The factors for samples from Mar and Sep 1995.
suction sampler used has been shown to take
samples which are representative of the fauna Results
present, are reproducible and semi-quantitative
(wGerreeentsalkaedne.com1p9r94ias)i.ngTswixoteenpresfaimreplessamepalcehs. AeacchomspalmeptleeliasrteofgitvaexnacionlGlerceteendsalnaddenaunmdbeRroswien
one from each main plot, in spring (Nov 1993) (1996). The total number of Collembola col-
and early autumn (1994),just prior to burning. lected from preburn samples in Nov 1993 was
All sampling was carried out between midday 2434 comprising eight species. Statistical tests
aonndef3ropmm.theFouunrfepnocsetdfpilreotssaamtptlweosmwoenrtehtsakpeons,t (cMaeusgthst)bfeotrwseiegnnifviecratnitcadlifafnedrehnocersizionntianldirvoidwusalosf
burn and two from each main plot inside and plots showed no biases across the study area.
otugnhurtetaiszliibdnuferginvt.ewheeTmrhfoeeenntcufehn,elsniacktaeefdl5ty,epr1lt0oobtuasbrnnewdienr1ege6vimnadseoontntetfshfaeesamcrtpalsfliteeoerd.rf Tsstmhpheaeelcllisamecnekcunoomsnfbderrarpeirsnpefr-aaelbrslueerniantnlismtnhaogesmtppflroceueercrcetodalsiilpnneelgccytimeecsdoa.nuotsnhTelshyd.esb1ey
RpIoansivtneffriatrleelbrsawatamespslwiweenrlglepsbeoerrlitooedwdstaoevxoecrredapegtretaphnrediolcraosuttnottewadol..l toovoTerwlootwhmrfoeoenrttahnisamleayfsstieasrsbautmrasnpnienycgienisnudlmiebvveeildr.usaHlwosewreoevfestraill,ll
The majority of specimens collected were Col- groups were collected from the unburnt plots
lembola which were identified to species. Other compared with burnt plots and three times as
tthaexaswuectrieonnostamprpelseesnttoinbesufafniacliyenstednuamtbseprescieisn mbploaoltnasy.altSoainxmeai.loaSnrotrmheeseuulttnasxbauwrewnreterecobootmnapliaynrepedrdefswoerinttChoolbnluertmnht-e
level.
308 PENELOPE GREENSLADE
unburnt plots. Excludingthose represented by a
single specimen, they were Thysanoptera (24
individuals, 3 species) and Coleoptera (4 indi-
viduals, 4 species).
Five months after burning mean numbers of
total invertebrates per plot indicated no differ-
ences between treatments (Fig. 2). Although Unburn!
Burnt/unienced
only 1 16 Collembola were trapped, too few for Q Burnt/fenced
statisticalanalysis,dataforthisgroupdidshowa
slight reduction in numbers on burnt sites both
fenced and unfenced, compared with thefenced
and unfenced unburnt plots (Fig. 2).
All invertebrates
Unburnt/tenced
P Unbumt/unlenced
Burnt/fenced
Burnt/unienced
Unburnt
nvertebrates Q Burnt/unfenced
Burnt/fenced
Figure2. Total invertebratesand Collembolaasmean
numbers of individuals per plot; five months after
burning at Woodstock.
Although total numbers of individuals Corynephoria spI Corynephoria sp. 2
trapped had increased to over 1000 ten months
Figure 3. A. Total invertebrates and Collembola as
afterburning, numbers ofCollembola were still mean numbers of individuals per plot; and B. abun-
low at 126. However some differences in total dance of 2 collembolan species as mean numbers
numbers between treatments were found to be caught per plot ten months after burning at Wood-
statistically significant. There was nosignificant stock.
differencebetween fenced and unfenced control AtsixteenmonthsthetotalnumberofCollem-
(not burnt) sites. Fenced, burnt plot samples bola collected was 2561 but consideringcontrol
contained twice the numberofindividuals than plots alone, this was still only halfprefire levels
the unfenced burnt plots and this difference is of two years earlier indicating that the some
<
statistically significant (/-test, p 0.02) effectsofthepreviousdroughtwerestillevident.
although there was no statistical difference in Thewinterfaunapredominatedatthistimewith
absolute numbers between fenced burnt plots no Corynephoria species and Katianninae
and control plots (/-test p <0.4) and unfenced species being present in large numbers as
burnt plots and control plots (/-test p<0.06) at expected (Greenslade, 1986). There were no
the level of5%. Consequently the effect ofgraz- statistically significant differences in abundance
ingon total invertebratesat ten months appears oftotal invertebratesbetween control and treat-
to be greater than the effect offire (Fig. 3A). ment or between fenced and unfenced plots.
Only two species of Collembolan were col- Collembolacomprised nearly 70%oftotal fauna
lected from samples collected ten months after collected. As at ten months, there was no stat-
burning, both belonging to the endemic, grass- istically significant difference in total individ-
inhabiting summer active genus, Corynephoria. uals caught between fenced and unfenced con-
Eighty-eight percent ofone species, Corynepho- trol plots (/-test). However there was a highly
riasp. 2, individualswerecollected on theburnt significant difference between the combined
plots. Alternatively, Corynephoria sp. 1 controls and the fenced/burnt plots (p < 0.001)
occurred almost exclusively (95% of invidivi- and a significant difference between fenced/
duals) on unburnt controls and burnt fenced burntplotsand unfenced/burntplots(p < 0.01).
plots. Unfenced, burnt sites are intermediate. There was less difference between the controls
5
i
PRESCRIBED BURNING IN GRASSY WOODLAND 309
and the unfenced/burnt plots although this was (m.s.) is therefore compared with the between-
significant at the 10% level plots residual m.s. immediately below it. Simi-
At the species level further differences were larly, the comparison "grazed v ungrazed" is a
evident in the composition ofthe collembolan within plot comparison, comparable with the
communities. Seventeen species ofCollembola within-plots residual. These analyses show no
werecollected 16 monthsafterburning, 12 from important effects ofburning or grazing, except
unfenced/burnt plots and 14 from fenced/burnt for an effect of grazing on Acarina in 1995,
plots. Although the small difference in number where examination of the data shows that
ofspecies was not significant, there wasa differ- almost invariablytherewere moreAcarinescol-
ence in relative species abundance in terms of lected on the grazed halfplot burnt or unburnt,
individualscaught inthetwotreatments(Fig.4). than on the ungrazed (Table 1). It is not clear
The same two species of Collembola were whether this is a genuine difference in popu-
numerically predominant on all treatments but lation density, or merely in sampling
they were relatively more abundant on the efficiency.
fenced plots than on the unfenced plots where Using this analysis based on the Poisson dis-
the six subsidiary species were more abundant. tribution(i.e., random counts), the residual m.s.
Thisis illustratedbytheShannon indexofeven- isexpectedtoequal 1 ifthereisnoheterogeneity.
ness which was 0.356 for the fenced plot and The residual m.s. in the above table show that
0.495 for the unfenced plot indicating that the there is some heterogeneity between plots, but
community structure is moreevenly distributed not much within plots. It is therefore not
among species under grazing. unreasonable to use ordinary %- to examine the
The comparison "burnt v unburnt" is a com- effectsofgrazing(awithin plotscomparison)on
parison between plots, and its mean square all categories sampled, including those not ana-
lysed above, but not effects of burning (a
n— Unfencedplots between plots comparison). For example, total
q Acarines on all ungrazed sub plots in 1995 is
179, on grazed plotsis 308; soy} = 34.17 which
agreeswell withthe corresponding m.s. 34.58 in
the analysis. Since some within plots heterogen-
eity does exist, such values of %2 should be
Mj-a
treated with caution.
Total Collembola, total Acarina and total
invertebrates were used as dependant variables
in the ANOVA analysis for the two last dates.
Several significant valueswerefoundas follows.
• For March 1995, only total Collembola v burn-
— " ing (p < 0.05) were significant. In September
1995, for total Collembola both burning
Species (p<0.005) and the interaction of burning and
IFboilgaurcea4u.gLhotgopnerfceenncteadgeasnpdecuiensfeanbcuenddapnloctesoaftCoWloloedm-- girnavzeritnegbr(apte<s 0v.e0r5s)uswebruernsiinggnif(ipca<nt.0.A0l0s5o)towtaasl
stock, 16 months after burning. significant in September 95.
Table 1. Analyses ofDeviance obtained from GLIM for October 1994 and March 1995.
March
October
Collembola 1994 Acarines 1994 Collembola 1995 Acarines 1995
d.f. deviance m.s. deviance m.s. deviance m.s. deviance m.s.
bbuertnwteevnupnlboutsrnrtesidual 141 12272 0893 278..0797 1440..9617 100..6375 2896..0964 296..9145 27111..5749 1119..7490
grazed v ungrazed 1 18 76 18.76 1.58 1.58 0.28 0.28 34.58 34.58
withing plots residual 1 49 74 3.32 46.64 3.11 40.92 2.73 15.83 1.06
310 PENELOPE GREENSLADE
Discussion individuals caught increased in fenced plots by
increasing numbers ofcommon species caught
The immediate effect of fire was to reduce atthesametimeasreducingnumbersofthesub-
invertebrate diversity and numbers of individ-
sidiary species. Results from the floristic survey
suaelesmctaoughhatv,e bruetgaianfetdertheeiigrhtpreeefniremolnevtehlss.,Hboowt-h acanrdriheednocuetbiinolmaatess1,99w4asshsoigwnitfhiactantthleypglraenattceorvoenr
ever, results indicatethatthecompositionofthe
the burnt fenced plots than on burnt unfenced
postfire community is markedly different from plotsand that therewere nodifferences between
that present before burning. This difference is fenced and unfenced controls (Prober, 1995).
greatestat thelevel ofspeciesasnoted by Friend
Results must be qualified because of biases
(1996) and is also in agreement with York's caused by the methods used as stressed by
results (1994, 1996) from a long term fire study Friend (1995). In suction sampling more com-
in forest. York found nearly a quarter of ant
plex structure and higher density of the veg-
specieswere lostfrom siteswhich wereregularly
etation will reduceefficiencyofsamplingsothat
burnt at three to four year intervals. The evi-
dence here and from York's work strongly the samples from the control plots could be less
representative of total populations than those
spurgogveisdtes tahnat aodnelqyuasttuedieusndaetrsstpeacnideisnglevoefl wtihlel from burnt sites. However a lower number of
individuals trapped or caught on the treatment
changes caused by burning.
The differences in species composition may plots, is likely to reflect a real difference in
species abundance.
reflect differences between taxa in vagility and
hence ability to colonise but the proximity of Friend and Williams (1993) studying fire
both control and treatment makes this unlikely effects on invertebrates in inland heath, found
to be the main reason. Fire changes vegetation differences between years could be greater than
structure resulting in a more open plant com- thoseduetofire. Results here indicated that low
munity with higher day temperatures and low rainfall reduced invertebrate numbers for over
moisture levels at the surface. Measurementsof twelve months to such an extent that data from
the physical characteristicsofthe plotswere not onepreburnsamplecould not beused,andtreat-
made but humidity, light and temperature menteffectswerenegligibleforfivemonthsafter
characteristics oftheground surface were prob- burning. In the same experiment Prober (1995)
ably more important factors determining also found that changes in plant species compo-
species composition than vagility. sition were minimal five months after burning
Closely related species responded in opposite and suggested this may havebeen dueto thedry
waystofireinthattwo Corynephoriaspeciesdif- conditions. This indicates that, although obvi-
fered in their distributions between treatments. ously desirable (Friend 1995). preburn samples
The species found most abundantly on burnt areofvalueonlyin detectingvariabilityoverthe
plots is widely distributed in Australia whilethe site and can not provide reliable baseline data
other species, found more abundantly on con- with with to compare treatment values.
trols, isknownfromotherdatatoberestrictedto Woodstock cemetery is part ofthe proposed
siteswheregrasstussocksarewelldevelopedand "Grassy White Box Woodlands Reserve" (Pro-
dense. ber. 1995)becauseofitshighconservationvalue
When the grassy woodland plots were pro- on the basis of floristics and vegetation type.
tected against grazingby kangaroosand rabbits, Lessthan0.5%ofthistypeofwoodland remains
total numbersofinvertebratescaught recovered in a near-original condition although it once
rapidly to prefire levels and at ten months after covered severNalSWmillion hectares in the wheat-
firehad regainedcontrol levels.Theseresultsfor sheepbelt of (Proberand Thiele 1993). As
invertebratesaresimilartothosefound insouth- aresultofthesestudies, firemanagementon this
eastern Australia for plants by Leigh and sitecan takeintoconsideration someofthevari-
Holgate (1979). In spring, grazing affected the able responses of invertebrates to fire and pre-
collembolan fauna on the grassy woodland site dict the likely consequences of different fire
resulting in a more evenly distribution of indi- regimes.
viduals between species. At the sampling
occasion the interaction between grazing and Acknowledgements
burningwassignificant. Nodifferencein species Thanks are due the Department of Environ-
composition was recorded between controls, ment, Sport and Territoriesfor fundingthepro-
fenced or unfenccd plots but total Collembola ject. Iam alsograteful to DrS. Proberand DrK.
PRESCRIBED BURNING IN GRASSY WOODLAND 311
Thicle for allowing us to use their experimental nants. Finalreport. Project PI44, World Wildlife
plots at Woodstock and providing me with Fund, Australia.
unpublished data and to Dr N. Gilbert and Dr Gill, A.M., 1996. How fires affect biodiversity. Pp.
G. Clark for assistance with the statistical 47-55 in: Fire and biodiversity The effects and
effectiveness of fire management. Biodiversity
analysis.
Series, Paper No. 8. Biodiversity Unit. Depart-
ment of the Environment. Sport and Terri-
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