This PhD research is focussed on understanding how invasive plant species alter fire regimes, initiate invasion-fire cycles and increase landscape wildfire risk. A functional trait-based approach will be used to investigate mechanisms of invasiveness and flammability in invasive plant species and how these species alter native vegetation structure, flammability and fuel loads in invaded landscapes. The aim is to develop a predictive invasion model to help identify vegetation communities vulnerable to invasion and to use a fire risk simulator to model the consequences of plant invasions and altered fire regimes on risks to human and environmental values.
Project timeline: 08/2024 – 08/2031