PhD Scholar
The response of birds to the fire regimes of central Australian mulga woodlands
E-mail: Adam.Leavesley@anu.edu.au

Within the arid zone, mulga (Acacia aneura) supports a rich bird fauna. Mulga grows in large continuous stands and in patches that are interspersed with other plant communities in an intergrove pattern. Fire-prone spinifex (Triodia spp.) hummock grasslands are thought to influence the distribution of mulga which can be killed by fires which scorch the canopy - i.e. of moderate intensity or greater. Little is known about the way birds respond to the spatial distribution of mulga in the landscape, or the fire regimes associated with mulga.

Unreplicated evidence from a study of the birds of Uluru - Kata Tjuta N.P. suggests that fire influences the species composition, richness and abundance of birds in mulga. I intend to formally demonstrate how the common mulga species respond to the fire regimes of mulga woodland.