@article {bnh-3284,
	title = {Natural hazards in Australia: droughts},
	journal = {Climatic Change},
	volume = {139},
	year = {2016},
	month = {11/2016},
	pages = {37-54},
	chapter = {37},
	abstract = {<p><span>Droughts are a recurrent and natural part of the Australian hydroclimate, with evidence of drought dating back thousands of years. However, our ability to monitor, attribute, forecast and manage drought is exposed as insufficient whenever a drought occurs. This paper summarises what is known about drought hazard, as opposed to the impacts of drought, in Australia and finds that, unlike other hydroclimatic hazards, we currently have very limited ability to tell when a drought will begin or end. Understanding, defining, monitoring, forecasting and managing drought is also complex due to the variety of temporal and spatial scales at which drought occurs and the diverse direct and indirect causes and consequences of drought. We argue that to improve understanding and management of drought, three key research challenges should be targeted: (1) defining and monitoring drought characteristics (i.e. frequency, start, duration, magnitude, and spatial extent) to remove confusion between drought causes, impacts and risks and better distinguish between drought, aridity, and water scarcity due to over-extractions; (2) documenting historical (instrumental and pre-instrumental) variation in drought to better understand baseline drought characteristics, enable more rigorous identification and attribution of drought events or trends, inform/evaluate hydrological and climate modelling activities and give insights into possible future drought scenarios; (3) improving the prediction and projection of drought characteristics with seasonal to multidecadal lead times and including more realistic modelling of the multiple factors that cause (or contribute to) drought so that the impacts of natural variability and anthropogenic climate change are accounted for and the reliability of long-term drought projections increases.</span></p>},
	doi = {10.1007/s10584-016-1798-7},
	url = {http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-016-1798-7},
	author = {Anthony S. Kiem and Fiona Johnson and Seth Westra and Albert van Dijk and Jason P. Evans and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Alison J. and Alexandra Rouillard and Cameron Barr and Johnathon Tyler and Mark Thyer and Doerte Jakob and Fitsum Woldemeskel and Bellie Sivakumar and Raj Mehrotra}
}
@article {BF-2411,
	title = {Dendroecological potential of Callitris preissii for dating historical fires in semi-arid shrublands of southern Western Australia},
	journal = {Dendrochronologia},
	volume = {28},
	year = {2010},
	month = {2010},
	pages = {37 - 48},
	abstract = {Historical fire regimes in the semi-arid shrublands of southern Western Australia are poorly understood, largely owing to a lack of quantitative historical data. We sought to determine the dendroecological potential of fire-sensitive Callitris preissii Miq. trees to date historical fires and extend the length of fire-history data available from remotely sensed imagery. We sampled C. preissii trees from known fire areas in the Lake Johnston region in southern Western Australia. Our objective was to assess the capacity to date historical fires using stand establishment date as a proxy measure of time since fire. We measured stem basal diameter and height and collected stem sections of C. preissii trees and saplings from five areas that were burnt on known dates between 1974 and 2001. We also sampled older trees (>35 years), which were used to create a master chronology to assist with dating of seedlings and saplings. Tree age could not be reliably estimated from stem basal diameter and tree height, with 95\% prediction intervals of more than 17 years. However, we were able to successfully determine tree age and develop a ring-width chronology using standard dendrochronological techniques. The cross-dated chronology showed a relatively high inter-series correlation in ring width (r=0.63) indicating consistency in growth rate among samples and sites, while mean sensitivity (0.39) signified high inter-annual variability in ring width. The age structure of C. preissii stands revealed consistent recruitment within 1 year of fire occurrence and maximum intra-stand variation in tree age of 4 years. Our results confirm that C. preissii has significant dendroecological potential to accurately date past fire events and that this approach will assist in extending fire-history records beyond recent decades for much of southern semi-arid Australia.},
	doi = {10.1016/j.dendro.2009.01.002},
	author = {O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Alison J. and Cullen, Louise E. and Lachlan W. McCaw and Matthias M. Boer and Grierson, Pauline}
}
@article {BF-2467,
	title = {Vegetation and landscape connectivity control wildfire intervals in unmanaged semi-arid shrublands and woodlands in Australia},
	journal = {Journal of Biogeography},
	volume = {38},
	year = {2010},
	month = {01/2011},
	pages = {112 - 124},
	abstract = {Aim  The aim of this study was to determine how spatial variation in vegetation type and landscape connectivity influence fire intervals in a semi-arid landscape with low relief and complex mosaics of woodland and shrubland vegetation.

Location  Our study focused on a 15,500-km2 area of relatively undisturbed and unmanaged land in south-western Australia, referred to as the Lake Johnston region.

Methods  We modelled fire-interval data from a 67-year (1940{\textendash}2006) digital fire history database using a two-parameter Weibull function, and tested for the effects of vegetation type and landscape connectivity on estimates of the length of fire intervals (Weibull parameter b) and the dependence of fire intervals on fuel age (Weibull parameter c).

Results  Vegetation type and landscape connectivity significantly influenced fire interval probability distributions. Fire intervals in shrublands (dense low shrub assemblage) were typically shorter (b = 46 years) and more dependent on fuel age (c = 2.33) than most other vegetation types, while fire intervals in open eucalypt woodlands were much longer (b = 405 years) and were less dependent on fuel age (c = 1.36) than in shrub-dominated vegetation types. Areas adjacent to or surrounded by salt lakes burnt less frequently (b = 319 years) and fire intervals were less dependent on fuel age (c = 1.48) compared with more exposed areas (e.g. b < 101 years, c > 1.68). Fire intervals in thickets (dense tall shrub assemblage) were longer (b = 101 years) than would be expected from fuel loads, most likely because they were protected from fire by surrounding fuel-limited woodlands.

Main conclusions  Fire intervals in south-western Australia are strongly influenced by spatial variation in vegetation (fuel structure) and landscape connectivity. The importance of fuel structure as a control of fire intervals in south-western Australia contrasts with other landscapes, where topographical gradients or climatic influences may override the effects of underlying vegetation. We found that, regardless of low relief, topographical features such as large salt lake systems limited the connectivity and spread of fire among landscape units in an analogous manner to lakes or mountainous features elsewhere.},
	issn = {03050270},
	doi = {10.1111/j.1365-2699.2010.02381.x},
	author = {O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Alison J. and Matthias M. Boer and Lachlan W. McCaw and Grierson, Pauline}
}
@article {BF-1154,
	title = {Impact of Ecosystem Management on Microbial Community Level Physiological Profiles of Postmining Forest Rehabilitation},
	volume = {55},
	number = {2},
	year = {2008},
	note = {11 pgs},
	author = {Cookson, WR and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Alison J. and Grant, CD and Grierson, Pauline and Murphy, DV}
}
