| Title: |
Assessing the post-fire recovery of mined-under temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone |
| Authors: |
Anzooman, Monia; McKenna, Phill; Ufer, Natasha; Baumgartl, Thomas; McIntyre, Neil; Shaygan, Mandana |
| Publisher Information: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) |
| Publication Year: |
2024 |
| Collection: |
Federation University Australia: FedUni ResearchOnline |
| Subject Terms: |
3304 Urban and regional planning; 4104 Environmental management; 3301 Architecture; Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index (NDVI); Soil moisture index (SMI); Sydney Basin; Upland swamps; Wildfire |
| Description: |
The Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone (TPHSS) in the Sydney Basin of Australia provide critical ecological and hydrological services but are increasingly threatened by wildfires and human activities such as underground mining. The 2019–2020 wildfires severely impacted these swamps, raising concerns about their resilience and recovery. This study assessed the post-fire recovery of swamps and evaluated the ability of remote sensing techniques to determine recovery patterns. Specifically, it investigated differences in post-fire recovery patterns between swamps where groundwater levels and soil moisture contents were impacted by underground mining and those unimpacted by mining. Two mined and one non-mined swamp were studied. Soil moisture contents were monitored at five sites, and previously performed vegetation field surveys (2016–2022) were utilized. Remote sensing indices, including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Soil Moisture Index (SMI), were calculated and compared with ground data to map post-fire responses. The results showed that hydrological conditions directly affect post-fire recovery, with slower recovery in mined swamps compared to non-mined ones. This study demonstrated that NDVI and SMI indices can effectively determine recovery patterns in terms of vegetation and hydrology. However, evaluating the recovery pattern of specific vegetation species requires more frequent field surveys. © 2024 by the authors. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
Land Vol. 13, no. 12 (2024), p.; http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/205585; vital:20181; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13122253 |
| DOI: |
10.3390/land13122253 |
| Availability: |
http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/205585; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13122253 |
| Rights: |
All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ; Copyright © 2024 by the authors ; Open Access |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.3AC35577 |
| Database: |
BASE |