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Very few multi-species or ecosystem comparisons of post-fire vertebrate herbivore activity and food preference exist to inform fire management and conservation strategies. We inferred post-fire (1–3 years) native and introduced vertebrate herbivore activity and attraction to six diverse temperate vegetation communities (grassland to rainforest) from scat counts. We hypothesised that where fire reduced herbaceous and grassy vegetation ('fodder'), vertebrate herbivores would decline, and that post-fire preferences of native versus exotic herbivores would differ significantly. Instead, we found evidence for a 'fire and fodder reversal phenomenon' whereby native macropod and exotic deer scats were more abundant after fire in consistently 'fodder-poor' vegetation types (e.g., heath) but less abundant after fire in previously fodder-rich vegetation communities (e.g., grassland). Fodder cover predicted native macropod, wombat, and introduced deer activity and bare ground cover was strongly associated with introduced herbivore activity only, with the latter indicating post-fire competition for food sources due to their abundance in high-altitude open ecosystems. We, therefore, found environmental and vegetation predictors for each individual species/group and suggest broadscale multi-environment, multispecies observations to be informative for conservation management in potentially overlapping post-fire niches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gorse (Ulex europeus L.) is a woody legume and invasive woody weed that has been introduced to temperate pastoral landscapes worldwide. Despite the apparent cosmopolitan distribution of gorse across much of the temperate agroecological landscapes of the world, research and practice pertaining to the management of gorse has been largely constrained to single-treatments, regions, or timeframes. Gorse eradication has been widely attempted, with limited success. Using the PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis) method and a quasi-metanalytical approach, we reviewed the seminal ~299 papers pertaining to gorse management. We identified (i) the ecological characteristics of the species that predispose gorse to behaving invasively, and (ii) the success of management actions (from a plant ecological life history perspective) in reducing weed vigour and impact. A broad ecological niche, high reproductive output, propagule persistence, and low vulnerability to pests allow for rapid landscape exploitation by gorse throughout much the world. Additionally, there are differences in flowering duration and season in the northern and southern hemisphere that make gorse particularly pernicious in the latter, as gorse flowers twice per year. The implications of these life history stages and resistance to environmental sieves after establishment are that activity and efficacy of control is more likely to be favourable in juvenile stages. Common approaches to gorse control, including herbicides, biological controls, and fire have not been ubiquitously successful, and may in fact target the very site resources—sward cover, soil stability, hydrological balance—that, when degraded, facilitate gorse invasion. Ongoing seedling regeneration presents difficulties if eradication is a goal, but facilitated competition may reduce costs via natural suppression. Mechanical methods of gorse removal, though highly successful, induce chronic soil erosion and land degradation and should hence be used sparingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]