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Abstract:
The fire mosaic hypothesis is intuitively appealing to scientists and land managers due to its perceived potential to deliver favourable outcomes for biodiversity conservation and fire management. However evidence in support of the biodiversity benefits of fine-scaled fire mosaics is scant. In this thesis I investigate the key assumptions of the fire mosaic hypothesis using a model system, the mulga woodland/mulga bird community of central Australia. Mulga woodland is an ideal model system for this question because it is structurally and floristically simple, yet supports a rich avifauna. I tested how avian diversity (variety and number) was influenced by 1) time-since-fire; 2) patch size; and 3) the boundary between burnt and unburnt mulga woodland (pyric edge). An investigation of time-since-fire is crucial for testing the fire mosaic hypothesis. If there is no effect of time-since-fire on biodiversity, then the spatial arrangement of different times-since-fire is irrelevant and the definition of habitat patches and habitat edges based on time-since-fire is not valid. Patch size and edge effect are potential mechanisms by which a fine-scale fire mosaic may support greater avian diversity than a coarse-scale fire mosaic. For this to be the case, avian diversity must increase with decreasing patch size; or be greater at pyric edges than in the interior of habitats.
