Grasstrees reveal contrasting fire regimes in eucalypt forest before and after European settlement of southwestern Australia

Abstract

We have developed a convenient new method of ageing grasstrees ( Xanthorrhoea) and determining their fire history over the last 250 years or more. Grinding off the charred leafbases reveals alternating cream and brown bands that we equate with annual growth cycles and occasional black bands that we equate with the passage of fire. The new method was employed on 159 grasstrees at 50 sites distributed throughout the dry eucalypt forest region of southwestern Australia. In the 80 years prior to European settlement in 1829, and for the next 40 years, fires were recorded on grasstrees at 3–5 year intervals. The ensuing decline in mean fire frequencies and increased variability corresponded with demise of the aboriginal inhabitants and onset of intense wildfires associated with unrestrained logging. Our data show that from 1920 attempts at fire exclusion followed later by prescribed burning programs were only partly successful. Currently recorded intervals on individual trees of 10–20 years are consistent with further changes in fire management practices. Both extremes would have had significant impacts on the biota.