This book will appeal to an international audience as well as be irresistible to local readers. Anyone working or with an interest in Australia’s arid zone should need ready access to this book. There is no equivalent publication out there at the moment, and this book has many authoritative chapters, richly illustrated with colourful material. The challenge of this book was to assemble current knowledge on particular topics and concepts, and principles relating to them. It is also forward-looking by identifying where there are gaps or inadequacies in knowledge, and where future research needs to be directed. Lead authors were encouraged to take such an approach; they had the opportunity to involve any author they considered appropriate. The final product shouldbe a fabulous resource, also for university courses, especially at MSc level.

"Originally published in 2017 as Call of the Reed Warbler: a new argiculture, a new earth by Univeristy of Queensland Press"--Title page verso.

Anthropogenic climate change is becoming a reality, and in Australia this means longer , more intense wildfire seasons over a wider area. The GunaiKurnai people saw much of their Country decimated during ‘Black Summer’ (2019/2020), prompting questions about both the management of Country and its heritage resources moving forward.

Aborigines came to Australia and burnt out most of the trees and bushes. The megafauna starved whilst eucalypts, herbs, grasses and mesofauna flourished. The ancient culture survived an ice age, global warming and hugely rising seas, forging economies in woodlands and deserts. Europeans doused the firestick, woodlands turned to scrub, mesofauna perished, megafires and tree-eaters irrupted. Foresters rekindled the firestick and greens stole it. Megafires and declines are back with a vengeance whilst ecologists dream-up reasons not to burn. Ecological history shows that we must apply the firestick frequently, willingly and skillfully to restore a healthy, safe environment and economy.