Recovery of Pindan vegetation on seismic lines
Stuart J. Dawson
A E , Peter J. Adams B , Kris I. Waddington C , Katherine E. Moseby D and Patricia A. Fleming A
A Environmental and Conservation Sciences, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, WA 6150, Australia.
B Invasive Species and Environment Biosecurity, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, 3 Baron-Hay Ct, South Perth, WA 6151, Australia.
C Buru Energy, Level 2, 16 Ord St, West Perth, WA, Australia.
D School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, High Street, Randwick, NSW 2052, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: stuart.dawson102@gmail.com
The Rangeland Journal 41(5) 393-403 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ19051
Submitted: 9 July 2019 Accepted: 11 November 2019 Published: 20 December 2019
Abstract
Exploration for oil and gas resources requiring the clearing of seismic lines has been occurring in central and northern Australia for many years. For example, seismic surveys have been conducted in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia since the 1960s. Despite this being a widespread practice, the recovery of vegetation on seismic lines has not been well studied. To better understand vegetation recovery in the West Kimberley, we conducted vegetation surveys on recovering seismic lines cleared using a raised-blade technique, from ∼two months to 4.9 years post-clearing, and compared them to paired control plots. Generally, the vegetation structure and community composition on seismic lines recovered quickly, with no discernible difference between control and seismic plots that were cleared more than 6 months prior. Some individual vegetation characteristics (e.g. understorey density and overstorey cover) recovered slowly, whereas other characteristics such as the number of individual grasses, recovered quickly. Vegetation recovery was confounded by the time since fire, which accounted for differences in vegetation structure at 1–2 years and 3–4 years since clearing. The fast recovery rate observed suggests that raised-blade clearing may not present a lasting impact on Pindan vegetation in the West Kimberley.
Additional keywords: disturbance, fire, recovery, seismic line.
References
Barton, K. (2016). MuMIn: multi-model inference. R package ver. 1.15. 6. Available at: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MuMIn/MuMIn.pdf (accessed 6 December 2019).Bastin, G., and the ACRIS Management Committee (2008). Rangelands 2008 – Taking the Pulse. Published on behalf of the ACRIS Management Committee by the National Land and Water Resources Audit, Canberra.
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., Walker, S., Christensen, R. H. B., Singmann, H., Dai, B., Grothendieck, G., Green, P., and Bolker, M. B. (2014). Package ‘lme4.’ (R Foundation for Statistical Computing: Vienna, Austria.)
Bureau of Meteorology (2019). Climate Data Online, Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Available at: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/ (accessed 10 October 2019).
Dawson, S. J., Adams, P. J., Moseby, K. E., Waddington, K. I., Kobryn, H. T., Bateman, P. W., and Fleming, P. A. (2018). Peak hour in the bush: linear anthropogenic clearings funnel predator and prey species. Austral Ecology 43, 159–171.
| Peak hour in the bush: linear anthropogenic clearings funnel predator and prey species.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Engqvist, L. (2005). The mistreatment of covariate interaction terms in linear model analyses of behavioural and evolutionary ecology studies. Animal Behaviour 70, 967–971.
| The mistreatment of covariate interaction terms in linear model analyses of behavioural and evolutionary ecology studies.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fiori, S. M., and Zalba, S. M. (2003). Potential impacts of petroleum exploration and exploitation on biodiversity in a Patagonian Nature Reserve, Argentina. Biodiversity and Conservation 12, 1261–1270.
| Potential impacts of petroleum exploration and exploitation on biodiversity in a Patagonian Nature Reserve, Argentina.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Goosem, M. (2007). Fragmentation impacts caused by roads through rainforests. Current Science 92, 1587–1595.
Halekoh, U., and Højsgaard, S. (2014). A Kenward-Roger approximation and parametric bootstrap methods for tests in linear mixed models – the R package pbkrtest. Journal of Statistical Software 59, 1–32.
| A Kenward-Roger approximation and parametric bootstrap methods for tests in linear mixed models – the R package pbkrtest.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hammer, Ø., Harper, D. A. T., and Ryan, P. D. (2001). PAST: Paleotological Statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica. Available at: https://folk.uio.no/ohammer/past/ (accessed 15 June 2017).
Kenneally, K. F., Edinger, D. C., and Willing, T. (1996). ‘Broome and Beyond: Plants and People of the Dampier Peninsula, Kimberley, Western Australia.’ (Western Australia: Department of Conservation and Land Management: Como, WA.)
Klepacki, N., Black, S., and Marchant, M. (1985). ‘Impact of Petroleum Exploration Activity on Range Resources and Pastoral Pursuits in the West Kimberley.’ (WA Department of Agriculture, Division of Resources Management: Perth, WA.)
Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., and Christensen, R. H. B. (2015). Package ‘lmerTest’. R package ver. 2. Available at: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lmerTest/lmerTest.pdf (accessed 6 December 2019).
Lee, P., and Boutin, S. (2006). Persistence and developmental transition of wide seismic lines in the western Boreal Plains of Canada. Journal of Environmental Management 78, 240–250.
| Persistence and developmental transition of wide seismic lines in the western Boreal Plains of Canada.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 16112795PubMed |
McGregor, H. W., Legge, S., Jones, M. E., and Johnson, C. N. (2014). Landscape management of fire and grazing regimes alters the fine-scale habitat utilisation by feral cats. PLoS One 9, e109097.
| Landscape management of fire and grazing regimes alters the fine-scale habitat utilisation by feral cats.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 25329902PubMed |
Nakagawa, S., and Schielzeth, H. (2013). A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed‐effects models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 4, 133–142.
| A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed‐effects models.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
O’Loughlin, T. (1989). The environment – not just a greenie issue. Australian Gas Journal 53, 11–15.
R Core Team (2018). ‘R: A language and environment for statistical computing.’ (R Foundation for Statistical Computing: Vienna, Austria.) Available at: http://www.R-project.org/ (accessed 6 December 2019).
Radford, I. J., and Fairman, R. (2015). Fauna and vegetation responses to fire and invasion by toxic cane toads (Rhinella marina) in an obligate seeder-dominated tropical savanna in the Kimberley, northern Australia. Wildlife Research 42, 302–314.
| Fauna and vegetation responses to fire and invasion by toxic cane toads (Rhinella marina) in an obligate seeder-dominated tropical savanna in the Kimberley, northern Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Reed, R. A., Johnson‐Barnard, J., and Baker, W. L. (1996). Contribution of roads to forest fragmentation in the Rocky Mountains. Conservation Biology 10, 1098–1106.
| Contribution of roads to forest fragmentation in the Rocky Mountains.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Russell-Smith, J., Yates, C., Edwards, A., Allan, G. E., Cook, G. D., Cooke, P., Craig, R., Heath, B., and Smith, R. (2003). Contemporary fire regimes of northern Australia, 1997–2001: change since Aboriginal occupancy, challenges for sustainable management. International Journal of Wildland Fire 12, 283–297.
| Contemporary fire regimes of northern Australia, 1997–2001: change since Aboriginal occupancy, challenges for sustainable management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Taylor, D. (1992). Blina Oilfield, Canning Basin, case history. Exploration Geophysics 23, 467–480.
| Blina Oilfield, Canning Basin, case history.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Thackway, R., and Cresswell, I. (1995). ‘An Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia: A Framework for Establishing the National System of Reserves. Ver. 4.0.’ (Australian Nature Conservation Agency: Canberra.)
van Rensen, C. K., Nielsen, S. E., White, B., Vinge, T., and Lieffers, V. J. (2015). Natural regeneration of forest vegetation on legacy seismic lines in boreal habitats in Alberta’s oil sands region. Biological Conservation 184, 127–135.
| Natural regeneration of forest vegetation on legacy seismic lines in boreal habitats in Alberta’s oil sands region.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Webb, R. H., Steiger, J. W., and Wilshire, H. G. (1986). Recovery of compacted soils in Mojave Desert ghost towns. Soil Science Society of America Journal 50, 1341–1344.
| Recovery of compacted soils in Mojave Desert ghost towns.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
