Rachael Nolan
Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science
Melbourne School of Land and Environment
The University of Melbourne
Level 1, 221 Bouverie St, Parkville
VIC, 3010, Australia
Email: r.nolan@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Degree
PhD
Thesis title
Post wildfire changes to plant morphology and physiology: implications for water yield in wet eucalypt forests
Supervisors
Project Outline
Large-scale disturbance, in particular fire, can have a profound influence in shaping vegetation composition and structure. The effects of such disturbance on vegetation can have important implications for catchment water balance through changes in evapotranspiration. In Australia the most dramatic effects have been identified in the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell) forests of Victoria where reductions in water yield following fire have been estimated at up to 50%. To date research on post-fire water yield in Victoria has been largely confined to these Mountain Ash catchments. My research aims to redress this imbalance and investigate the affects of bushfires on water yields in other vegetation communities, specifically, by examining the influence fire exerts on plant water relations in regenerating ecosystems.
Link to Forests and Water Research Group page
Link to Postgraduate index page