Disturbance and climatic drivers of carbon dynamics of a North Australian tropical Savanna

Lindsay B. Hutley, Jason Beringer

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    26 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Australian tropical savannas occur at annual rainfalls greater than 600 mm and extend from the Gulf of Carpentaria in north Queensland, across the northern half of the Northern Territory (NT), to the Kimberly region of northwest Western Australia. This is a savanna biome of almost 2 million km2 and one of the world’s most ecologically intact savanna regions (Mackey et al., 2007). Australian savanna ecosystems experience one of the most seasonal of the world’s savanna climates (Prior and Bowman, 2005) with 90-95% of rainfall between November and April (Figure 3.1). This seasonality is driven by the annual movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which drives the Australian summer monsoon. Soils of the region are ancient, highly weathered, and leached and are dominated by low-nutrient Kandosol (equivalent to Palexeralf using U.S. Taxonomy) and affiliated types. Soil and climate characteristics are generally unsuitable for broad-acre cropping, and grazing is the dominant land use with some horticulture. In the Northern Territory and Kimberly region, indigenous lands and conservation
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationEcosystem Function in Savannas
    Subtitle of host publicationMeasurement and Modeling at Landscape to Global Scales
    EditorsMichael Hill, Niall Hanan
    Place of PublicationUnited States
    PublisherCRC Press
    Chapter3
    Pages57-75
    Number of pages19
    ISBN (Electronic)9781439804711
    ISBN (Print)9781439804704
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

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