Continental-scale syntheses of Australian pyromes - misclassification of south-western eucalypt woodlands misinforms management

Abstract

Global and continental-scale analysis of ecological phenomena can offer important insights through the identification of patterns and associations not detectable at smaller scales. However, using proxies for ecological phenomena, such as vegetation mapping for spatially projecting fire regime niches and post-fire plant responses, require critical examination of predictions to determine utility. Using local studies in south-western Australia, we demonstrate that while this approach has been largely successful in mallee woodland and shrubland, it has failed in eucalypt woodland, with the consequence that values for a range of fire-related parameters from the continent-wide approaches, if adopted in informing management, would result in undesirable conservation outcomes for the world's largest extant temperate woodland.