Projects in this research theme will characterise fire regimes of Tasmanian vegetation and contribute to understanding the relationship between climate and disturbance history.
Fire regimes are a key organising principle in fire ecology and management; they are multidimensional, characterised by different frequency, severity, seasonality, geographic patterns and fire behaviours and fuel types. They are also strongly influenced by weather conditions, climate trends and humans. This project will describe fire regimes, their trends and drivers, and reconstruct the fire history of different landscapes and vegetation types across Tasmania.
The projects will use a range of geospatial techniques recently developed for NSW Parks and Wildlife Service. Additional opportunities include working on palaeoecological reconstructions of fire history of pre-colonial fire regimes in collaboration with Prof Simon Haberle (ANU) and the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community.
Grant Williamson, Calum Cuningham, Stefania Ondei and David Bowman