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Component analysis of fire patterns in open eucalypt forest
Author(s) -
BRADFIELD GARY E.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1981.tb01277.x
Subject(s) - understory , vegetation (pathology) , principal component analysis , ecology , geography , physical geography , environmental science , forestry , canopy , biology , statistics , mathematics , medicine , pathology
The understorey vegetation of nine localities with different fire histories from open eucalypt forest near Melbourne, Victoria, was analysed by principal component analysis. Floristically, localities were quite similar; however, structural differences caused mainly by different burning regimes of recent years were more evident. An analysis of presence‐absence data displayed a marked discontinuity that was explainable in terms of the timing and intensity of a recent fire. Using unstandardized height data the pattern was related to inter‐ and intra‐locality differences in time since the last fires. An analysis of standardized height data demonstrated a connection between understorey structure and fire frequency. Despite apparent differences in the scatter diagrams obtained a statistical comparison of the analytical results indicated that, in many respects, the ordinations were similar