CSIRO's ten-year research program featuring the landscape-scale Kapalga fire experiment in Australia has provided a wealth of knowledge about savanna ecosystems and the critical but poorly understood role of fire. The frequent low-intensity fires examined in this volume characterize fire in the tropics and are a dominant force in shaping the structure and function of tropical ecosystems. Contributors discuss fire in relation to catchment dynamics, landscape ecology, biodiversity, and ecosystem management. Among the management issues addressed are carbon emissions, erosion and nutrient depletion, habitat management, biodiversity conservation, monitoring, and traditional Aboriginal burning practices. This book will be valuable to tropical ecologists, fire ecologists, and fire managers throughout the world, whether they are interested in plants, animals, soils, or in the landscape as a whole.

Burning Issues in Savanna Ecology and Management.- Kapalga and the Fire Experiment.- Fire Behavior.- Fuel Dynamics, Nutrients, and Atmospheric Chemistry.- Streams.- Vegetation.- Terrestrial Insects.- Terrestrial Vertebrates.- Synthesis: Fire Ecology and Adaptive Conservation Management.