Patchy, Burned Landscape Helps Kangaroos (IMAGE)
Caption
This map shows an area of western Australia (see inset, upper right) surrounding the Parnngurr community occupied by roughly 100 of members of an Aboriginal people known as the Martu. Different shades of brown to yellow indicate the ages of patches of grassy vegetation -- in other words, the time since each patch was burned. The Martu set small fires to expose the burrows of a major food source: sand monitor lizards. The circles indicate traditional hunting areas (connected by roads indicated by dashed lines) where such fires are most often set and where the Martu also hunt for kangaroos. A University of Utah anthropologist and colleagues found that the patchiness of the vegetation provides a variety of habitat that bolsters kangaroo populations, particularly at moderate distances from Parnngurr.
Credit
Brian Codding, University of Utah.
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