B. Murphy

Publications139
h-index39
Citations4,862
Highly Influential Citations163
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Savanna woody encroachment is widespread across three continents.
TLDR
It is argued that the functional traits of each woody flora, specifically the N-fixing ability and architecture of woody plants, are critical to predicting encroachment over the next century and that African savannas are at high risk of widespread vegetation change.
What controls the distribution of tropical forest and savanna?
TLDR
Experiments using Dynamic Global Vegetation Models, parameterised with measurements from each continent, provide an important tool for understanding the controls of these systems, consistent with the range of environmental variables correlated with forest distribution.
How do small savanna trees avoid stem mortality by fire? The roles of stem diameter, height and bark thickness
TLDR
The data suggest the only ‘strategy' for avoiding topkill in fire-prone systems is to optimise bark thickness to maximise stem bud and cambium protection.
Firescape ecology: how topography determines the contrasting distribution of fire and rain forest in the south‐west of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
Aim  To test the hypothesis that ‘islands’ of fire-sensitive rain forest are restricted to topographic fire refugia and investigate the role of topography–fire interactions in fire-mediated…
The interactive effect of temperature and humidity on the oxygen isotope composition of kangaroos
TLDR
It is suggested that the oxygen isotope composition of preserved kangaroo remains cannot be used to reconstruct relative humidity unless ambient air temperature can be reliably estimated.
Fire regimes of Australia: A pyrogeographic model system
Aim Comparative analyses of fire regimes at large geographical scales can potentially identify ecological and climatic controls of fire. Here we describe Australia’s broad fire regimes, and explore…
The carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of Australian grasses in relation to climate.
TLDR
Support is provided for the theory that water availability is the dominant factor determining soil and plant d15N via its effect on the nitrogen cycle and variation in water availability should be considered when estimating C4 grass abundance based on d13C measurements.
Sources of carbon isotope variation in kangaroo bone collagen and tooth enamel
Humid tropical rain forest has expanded into eucalypt forest and savanna over the last 50 years
TLDR
The increased concentration of atmospheric CO2 is pointed to as the most likely global driver of indiscriminate rain forest expansion occurring in northeastern Australia, by increasing tree growth and thereby overriding the effects of fire disturbance.
Fire regimes: moving from a fuzzy concept to geographic entity.
TLDR
These classical concepts such as the 'biome', 'vegetation type' and 'climate zone' can now be broadly reproduced by process-based dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) based on a small array of plant functional types.
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