Research Fellow
Dr Lynda Prior is a plant ecologist with a background in the physiological responses of plants to stresses such as salinity, water-logging and drought. She worked for 12 years on irrigation and salinity in horticultural crops in the Murray-Darling Basin, before moving to Darwin to do her PhD on how trees cope with the dramatic seasonal changes associated with the north Australian monsoon.
It is not possible to work on north Australian ecology without encountering fire, and post-doctoral projects included studying the effects of fire on tree growth, mortality and recruitment. Since moving to Tasmania in 2009, Lynda has undertaken a continental-wide study of Callitris and analysed forest growth in relation to climate. She is currently working with Prof. David Bowman on the effects of fire on the iconic Tasmanian endemic conifer Athrotaxis cupressoides, and how fire and climate have influenced trends in tree cover in northern Australia.
