@article{ref1,
title="Fire and rain are one: extreme rainfall events predict wildfire extent in an arid grassland",
journal="International journal of wildland fire",
year="2020",
author="Verhoeven, Elise M. and Murray, Brad R. and Dickman, Chris R. and Wardle, Glenda M. and Greenville, Aaron C.",
volume="29",
number="8",
pages="702-711",
abstract="Assessing wildfire regimes and their environmental drivers is critical for effective land management and conservation. We used Landsat imagery to describe the wildfire regime of the north-eastern Simpson Desert (Australia) between 1972 and 2014, and to quantify the relationship between wildfire extent and rainfall. Wildfires occurred in 15 of the 42 years, but only 27% of the study region experienced multiple wildfires. A wildfire in 1975 burned 43% of the region and is the largest on record for the area. More recently, a large wildfire in 2011 reburned areas that had not burned since 1975 (47% of the 2011 wildfire), as well as new areas that had no record of wildfires (25% of the 2011 wildfire). The mean minimum wildfire return interval was 27 years, comparable with other spinifex-dominated grasslands, and the mean time since last wildfire was 21 years. Spinifex-dominated vegetation burned most frequently and over the largest area. Extreme annual rainfall events (> 93rd percentile) effectively predicted large wildfires occurring 2 years after those events. Extreme rainfall is predicted to increase in magnitude and frequency across central Australia, which could alter wildfire regimes and have unpredictable and far-reaching effects on ecosystems in the region's arid landscapes.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1049-8001",
doi="10.1071/WF19087",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF19087"
}