Ecosystem Resilience of Heathlands
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Our sites are in the Casterton region of western Victoria and the Grampians National Park
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In 2018, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) outlined a strategy for monitoring the effects of fire management on ecosystem resilience. This will involve collection of ecosystem resilience data in 11 key vegetation types across Victoria.
This project focuses on the collection of ecosystem resilience data in one of these key vegetation types, heathlands. Heathland ecosystems are hotspots of biodiversity; they contain 25% of Australian plant species and are home to a wide variety of animals. Information about the effects of time since fire and inter-fire intervals on biodiversity is being collected at 200 sites in western-Victorian heathlands. The groups of interest are mammals, birds and vascular plants. These data will feed into models and metrics that DELWP use to prioritise fire management for biodiversity. Please contact Matt for further information about our research and student project opportunities. Our teamUoM staff: Matthew Swan, Luke Kelly, Holly Sitters, Julian Di Stefano, Alan York
Postgraduate students: Ella Plummans Pouton, Gemma Higgins Project partnersThis project is funded by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
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