ABSTRACT
Much of the inland tropical north of Australia is covered by sparsely wooded savanna, with annual monsoonal rainfall averaging from 200 mm in the southern region of central Australia to 800 mm and above closer to the northern coastal region. The pool of soil carbon in savanna ecosystems is a major component of the global carbon cycle. Fire is well known to have profoundly influenced the historical evolution and present-day biota of the savanna lands and prescribed burning practices have always formed a part of Aboriginal land management. The changes have been attributed largely to the cessation of Aboriginal fire management, although climatic changes may also have contributed. Desert ecosystems, such as those occupying vast tracts of northern Australia, might be expected to rank at the forefront of vulnerability to global climate change because their biota, already existing close to their biological limits, are also exposed to the more extreme climatic changes.
