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Welcome to 

Fire Ecology and

Biodiversity


School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences | Faculty of Science

University of Melbourne

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A holy grail for ecological fire management and research: What aspects of the fire regime make plants and animals tick?

25/2/2018

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Is that a ghostly presence on the right-hand-side or a tree stump?
Growth-stage optimisation determines the proportions of vegetation growth stages (categorical representations of time since fire) that maximise species diversity, providing an operational goal for fire managers.  To date, optimisation has only been applied to growth stages in a fire management context but other aspects of fire regimes, such as severity, are also likely to influence species diversity. 

In our new paper, we ask:
1 How do growth stage and fire severity influence plant and vertebrate species’ occurrence?
2 What mix of growth stages and fire severities maximises the diversity of these groups?

​We surveyed birds, mammals and plants in the tall wet forest of Victoria’s Central Highlands, and found that growth stage predicted the occurrence of many species.  Severity of the most recent fire was important over and above growth stage for a small subset of species; however, low-severity fire was a more important driver of species diversity than any other growth stage or severity category.

Growth stage is a good surrogate for developing conservation targets in tall wet forests, but does not capture the full range of species’ fire responses.  More complex versions of growth stage optimisation that accommodate multiple fire-regime variables need to be explored to yield ecologically meaningful conservation goals.

Swan, M., Sitters, H., Cawson, J., Duff, T., Wibisono, Y. & York, A. (2018). Fire planning for multispecies conservation: Integrating growth stage and fire severity. Forest Ecology and Management 415-416: 85-97 
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Congratulations to Kirsten Langmaid on completing her Masters research project!

29/6/2017

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Kirsten worked with Kate in the Central Highlands to investigate the responses of Mountain Bobucks (Trichosurus cunninghami) to fire.  She measured the home range sizes of animals fitted with GPS collars, and examined the response of home range size to fire severity and vegetation diversity.

She found that home ranges were smaller in areas burnt by high-severity fire in 2009 than in long-unburnt areas.  Smaller home ranges reflect high quality habitat, and it's likely that regenerating acacia in burnt areas provides bobucks with an abundant food supply.  Within areas burnt by high-severity fire, there was a positive relationship between home range size and vegetation-type diversity, indicating that riparian vegetation is particularly resource-rich.

These results will help researchers and land mangers better understand the implications of changing fire regimes for bobuck populations.

Well done Kirsten, and thanks to Julio, Kate and Kirsten for the photos!
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Possum Magic in the Central Highlands

23/1/2017

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Kate and a team of volunteers have recently returned from several weeks of field work out in the forests of the Central Highlands, where they have been attempting to catch Mountain Brushtail Possums (Bobucks) as part of Kate’s PhD research.

This study aims to understand how fire affects resource use and movement patterns of the possums at sites burnt during the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Kate is particularly keen to understand if this species alters its movement patterns and energy use between areas of differing burn severities.

For this project Kate has built her own GPS collars, which contain: a VHF for relocating the possums, a GPS to record horizontal movement patterns, an altimeter to measure changes in height, as well as a three-axis accelerometer to measure energy use. This device will enable us to look at resource selection and movement patterns in three-dimensions, across a range of different burn severities.

If you’d like to volunteer to come along on an upcoming field trip with Kate, please get in touch with her by email.
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Out with Smokey Bear and in with Nature's Phoenix

30/7/2015

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In Australia, fire is viewed as both an ecological disaster and a source of natural disturbance, but in many other regions public attitudes are overwhelmingly fire-phobic.

Public opinion in the United States has been shaped by Smokey Bear, a fictitious character created in 1944 to raise awareness of correct campfire etiquette.  Smokey’s mantra is “remember, ONLY YOU can prevent forest fires”, which has fostered a lively culture of fire suppression.  Command-and-control attitudes towards fire have become pervasive, to the detriment of ecological communities.
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We’ve contributed to a new book which provides the first global synthesis of the ecological benefits of high- and mixed-severity fire.  The book includes case studies from around the world, and we describe the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests of southeast Australia, where large fires are infrequent and intense.  Unlike many eucalypt species, Mountain Ash is considered fire-sensitive because it’s killed by severe fire.  However, its regeneration is dependent on high-intensity fire, which desiccates seed capsules and releases up to 14 million seeds per hectare.

The book advocates a paradigm shift that replaces Smokey Bear with nature’s phoenix.  According to Greek mythology, the phoenix is a long-lived bird which is repeatedly consumed by flames and reborn.   

Buy the book on Amazon, and find out more via an interview with editors Dominick DellaSala and Chad Hanson.

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University of Melbourne
4 Water Street
Creswick
Victoria 3363

Phone +61 (0)3 5321 4300 or email us

Photos contributed by Holly Sitters, Bronwyn Hradsky, students of the Fire Ecology and Biodiversity Group, and remote cameras.
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