Last year I completed my Bachelor of
Science (Conservation Biology and Ecology) at La Trobe University, Bundoora,
Australia. I am currently undertaking Honours in the Botany Department at La Trobe
University under the supervision of Dr. John Morgan.
I am interested in grassland ecology and
the role that fire plays in these highly threatened systems, particularly its use to improve
conservation outcomes.
With 35+ years of knowledge gained from
fire studies in Themeda triandra
grasslands, my Honours research aims to investigate the impacts of fire not only
in T. triandra-dominated grasslands,
but in other grassland types. The core of my research is to uncover whether
fire as a positive management tool in one grassland type can be transferred to
other systems, namely that of C3 grasslands which contain a different suite of
plant species and have different management histories (grazing and fire
suppression). Most importantly, I aim to
determine what factors influence survival of the dominant grass species (size
of tussocks, grassland composition pre-fire, the number of grass tillers etc.)
and assess recovery of these species post fire. Along with this, my work will
also characterize fire events in these two grassland types and will contribute
knowledge to the few studies that have looked at fire behaviour in grasslands
in south-eastern Australia. This is inherently linked to my key question and will
address whether the actual fire event, or, the individual species and
composition of the grassland pre-fire determine survival post-fire. Answering
these two key questions will contribute knowledge to the resilience of
different grassland types to fire and will assist managers in using fire as a
positive management tool into the future.
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