Ella completed her PhD in the FLARE and Biodiversity Dynamics research groups in 2024. She is now a postdoctoral researcher in the ECOLAND lab at the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, in Barcelona, Spain. Her research primarily focuses on plant ecology, biodiversity conservation, and fire and disturbance ecology.
Thesis – The mechanisms through which fire shapes plant life cycles in heathlands
Fire is a key driver of plant diversity, and many plants have adaptations that help them thrive in fire–prone ecosystems. However, changes to fire activity threaten thousands of plants worldwide. To understand the future of plant populations under fire regime changes, empirical research on fire’s influence on demographic processes is required. This thesis explored how patterns of fire influence plant species across their life cycle, from seeds to mature life stages, and how this relates to plant functional traits. I examined a Mediterranean-type heathland ecosystem as a case study, to examine the mechanisms through which fires impact plants at different lifestages, including those that take place above and below ground. I established 57 study sites in Gariwerd, southeastern Australia, which has experienced substantial variation in fire history. I combined field studies, laboratory trials, glasshouse experiments, and ecological modelling. Examining whole life cycles revealed new relationships between plants and characteristics of fires such as their frequency and severity. Fire-related plant traits enable prediction of environmental changes and can also inform conservation actions and decisions.
