Understanding the relationship between fire and biota is essential for biodiversity conservation
Fire is an important ecological process across many parts of the world, shaping the distribution of biomes and biodiversity. Fire regimes are changing however, and wildfires are occurring in the context of evolutionarily novel conditions for many species in the Anthropocene. Furthermore, fires occur in heterogeneous landscapes and complex feedbacks between fire regimes and vegetation can alter the trajectory of ecological recovery and future fire risk. Understanding relationships between fire regimes and the biota is essential for biodiversity conservation in a changing world.
Partnering with land management agencies allows us to understand how fire impacts plants, animals and ecosystem functions
Our research focuses on understanding how aspects of fire regimes such as intensity, frequency, season and heterogeneity affect plants, animals and ecosystem function. We partner with land management agencies to solve applied problems across a variety of different ecosystems and contexts.
Ecosystem interaction research themes are wide ranging
Our research themes include:
- How fire regimes influence plant diversity and ecosystem function
- Interrelationships between fire regimes, habitat structure and animal populations
- The utility of plant and animal traits for predicting fire responses
- Feedback between plant species composition, vegetation structure and fire risk
- The role of fire in driving species distributions
- Interactions between fire and other factors such as climatic variation, topography, land use change and competition among species
- Risks from changing fire regimes to vulnerable ecosystems such as obligate seeder forests
- Management tools for quantifying ecosystem resilience
Projects we are currently working on in this field
Predicting future fire regimes in south-eastern Australia and the implications for biodiversity
Fire regimes are changing around the globe. Fire seasons are lengthening, high severity fires are occurring more often and in unexpected places. These shifts in components of the fire regime will have impacts on vegetation composition and ...
Vegetation monitoring in remnant native vegetation (PF Olsen Australia)
PF Olsen Australia manages a diverse plantation estate across Australia on behalf of various clients. The estate contains patches of remnant vegetation and there is a need to monitor the quality of these patches through time. This project aims ...
Ecosystem resilience in ecological fire groups – ERP 28
The overarching aim of this projects is to understand the effects of bushfires and planned burning on ecosystem resilience, focusing on four key ecosystems in Victoria: Grassy Heathy Dry Forest, Iron Bark / Box, High Altitude Shrubland Woodland ...
Effectiveness of mechanical fuel management treatments including grazing
This project, undertaken through the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre (BNHRC), evaluates the effectiveness of mechanical fuel management strategies, with a focus on the use of targeted goat grazing as an alternative or complement to ...
Impact of prescribed burning scenarios on age class diversity
Prescribed burning is a common fire management strategy in Australia that is deployed to minimise wildfire risks through the reduction of fuel in fire-prone areas. The scale of prescribed burning has increased over the years to reduce the ...
Reducing landscape fire risk with green fire breaks
Currently in Australia the biodiversity crisis and wildfire risks are in direct opposition to one another. Increased wildfire risks under climate change place pressures on sectors and organisations attempting to revegetate the landscape and ...
Fire management approaches to mitigate the impacts of bushfires on ecological values
This project explores the ability of fuel management activities to mitigate bushfire impacts on ecological values. It does this through the integration of the landscape simulation modelling software ‘Fire Regimes and Operations Simulations ...
Interactions between fire regimes, climate and other environmental gradients shape plant diversity in heathland communities
Fire is a key driver of plant diversity globally. Heathlands are fire-prone and species-rich. Many species demonstrate fire adaptations such as post-fire resprouting, fire-stimulated germination, and fire-stimulated seed release. However, ...
Catch a Fire: The fire-resilience-conservation nexus across ecosystems and worldviews
In a world of climate uncertainty and increasingly extreme wildfires, it is unclear how best to adapt to such a web of unknowns. Approaches such as wildfire resilience emerge as a key pathway for adaptation, yet they also reveal persistent gaps ...
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