Thomas Duff
Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science
The University of Melbourne, Creswick Campus
Water Street, Creswick, VIC 3363, Australia
Email: t.duff@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Degree
PhD
Project Title
Assessing the effects of environmental influences on vegetation composition, patterns and structure in fire-prone environments: balancing fuel management and ecological objectives
Supervisors
Research Group
Project Description
Fire is a natural part of most Australian landscapes. Plant species within these areas have adapted to frequent disturbance and many species have now developed a dependency on fire in order to complete life cycles.
Fire management in the past has predominantly focussed on managing fire for the protection of human property and resources, but is now moving towards maintaining functional ecosystems. Mediterranean-type heathland and woodland ecosystems are characteristically diverse, with significant variation between species composition and abundance over short distances. Ecological fire management has typically focussed on the presence or absence of species deemed to be most sensitive to fire, particularly those that either have long juvenile periods or only have short life spans and limited seed dispersal or seed bank reserves. More recent work has attempted to recognise the major environmental influences on wider range of species, functional groups and life form types and endeavours to quantify how the environment and disturbances can influence species abundance and distribution.
This project will assess techniques that can be used to identify the key determinants of plant species abundance and distribution within a fire-prone ecosystem. The Heathy Woodland-type ecosystem group of western Victoria has been selected as case study area as it is relatively intact in comparison to other natural ecosystems in Victoria. The aim of this project is to use various techniques to create models of vegetation patterns within the broad study area and to determine the potential for using spatial models for predicting the effects of various fire management strategies, management practices for rare species and levels of uncertainty within current decision making processes.
The main objectives of this study are to:
- Investigate the effects of a range of environmental attributes on vegetation composition in heathy woodland in Victoria, including the effects of fire, nutrient availability and climate
- Test a range of statistical methods to ascertain relationships among interacting species and species and the environment; with a particular focus on incorporation of patterns into management practices. Statistical techniques of interest include cluster analysis, ordination, generalised linear modelling, generalised additive modelling and other regression techniques.
- Investigate the potential for using spatially explicit dynamic landscape models for assessing potential management strategies, specifically management strategies associated with endangered species and fire hazard.
Qualifications
B. Science / Forest Science (Hons), The University of Melbourne
Link to Postgraduate index page