Two radio interviews from Dec 2019 are posted here. How should we manage bushfires into the future? Listen here. With bushfires burning across Australia since early spring, the current fire season is re-defining the way Australians think about wildfire. As forests and landscapes burn where they’ve never burnt in European memory, the role of climate […]
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David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography at the University of Tasmania, explains the shocking reality behind the Amazon rainforest fires. This piece originally aired on ABC’s On Drive on 27 August 2019. Brazil’s hard-right government has this afternoon declared it will knock back an aid package from G7 countries with money and resources to help extinguish […]
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DAVID BOWMAN: After 1967 and Dunalley, it’s hard to explain the ignorance of the potential for catastrophic bushfire in Hobart HOBART is framed by kunanyi/Mt Wellington, which provides a superb backdrop to our city. It is an ancient presence, framing our daily lives, even sometimes affecting our moods. But there is another, fierce dimension to […]
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28 March 2019 Dr. Tim Curran, Senior Lecturer in Ecology at Lincoln University in New Zealand joins ABC Radio Hobart’s Catherine Zengerer to discuss green fire breaks as a potential fire management tool for Hobart. Tim is a visitor with the Fire Centre and will be giving a keynote lecture at a public event at […]
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David Bowman Director — Fire Centre Research Hub Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science University of Tasmania No one could have predicted the current fire crisis. The vast areas burnt and under threat of being burnt by numerous bushfires are the result of a complex mix of climate factors, each on their own quite ordinary, […]
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28 January 2019 Fire Centre Director Prof. David Bowman speaks with ABC Hobart’s Ryk Goddard to give an update on the wilderness fires and the status of fire sensitive vegetation in Tasmania’s alpine areas given the current threat from out of control wildfires. While sensitive vegetation remains mostly in-tact there are some important conversations […]
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Regeneration after bushfires could be compromised by climate change, new research shows. Scientists from the University of Tasmania’s School of Natural Sciences looked at how certain chemicals, produced by bushfires and crucial to stimulating new plant growth, respond to warming temperatures. In particular, researchers studied karrikins, which are among the most important group of chemicals which […]
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Fifty years on, mystery still surrounds the origin of the iconic button grass plains of south west Tasmania. Situated across western Tasmania and occupying much of the World Heritage Area, ecologists and scientists have been divided for half a century over whether these landscapes naturally evolve or are created by fire management practices. “In 1968, […]
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