Understanding the health effects of landscape burning and biomass smoke in Australian towns and cities. Bushfires are increasingly affecting Australian towns and cities directly and indirectly from episodes of severe air pollution. An approach to manage bushfires is to reduce fuel loads by setting planned fires under stable weather conditions, yet this strategy is controversial because of community concerns about ecological sustainability and negative health impacts from smoke. The relative im ....Understanding the health effects of landscape burning and biomass smoke in Australian towns and cities. Bushfires are increasingly affecting Australian towns and cities directly and indirectly from episodes of severe air pollution. An approach to manage bushfires is to reduce fuel loads by setting planned fires under stable weather conditions, yet this strategy is controversial because of community concerns about ecological sustainability and negative health impacts from smoke. The relative importance of air pollution from planned and unplanned bushfires vs. wood heaters, agricultural burning and other sources of air pollution will be determined. Our study will enable evidence-based bushfire smoke management, help formulate national air quality standards and shape policies regarding biomass smoke and bushfire management.Read moreRead less
Bushfire smoke and the relationship between human and landscape health. A team of landscape ecologists, environmental chemists and public health specialists will determine the ecological causes and adverse health effects of different levels of bushfire smoke in Darwin. Darwin is an ideal setting for this research because the only source of air pollution is the high incidence of controlled and uncontrolled bushfires during the dry season causing variable air quality: a preliminary study found a ....Bushfire smoke and the relationship between human and landscape health. A team of landscape ecologists, environmental chemists and public health specialists will determine the ecological causes and adverse health effects of different levels of bushfire smoke in Darwin. Darwin is an ideal setting for this research because the only source of air pollution is the high incidence of controlled and uncontrolled bushfires during the dry season causing variable air quality: a preliminary study found a link between smoke pollution levels and asthma. The findings of the proposed research will contribute to improved fire management practices to reduce injurious smoke pollution events and contribute to setting appropriate national air quality standards.Read moreRead less
Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify in ....Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify inter-tree competition, tree level resource supply, between tree genetic differences and the importance of chance events this project will draw on complexity theory to develop an innovative model that partitions stand level production to forecast the growth and size of individual trees.Read moreRead less
Managing variable retention harvesting to maintain forest biodiversity—effects of forest influence and successional stage on recolonisation. The project will provide the ecological evidence that will allow forest harvesting practices to be designed to sustain the full range of biodiversity in managed forest systems. It therefore will provide the basis for sustainable forest management, with extensive economic implications. It will specifically test the biodiversity implications of the new and in ....Managing variable retention harvesting to maintain forest biodiversity—effects of forest influence and successional stage on recolonisation. The project will provide the ecological evidence that will allow forest harvesting practices to be designed to sustain the full range of biodiversity in managed forest systems. It therefore will provide the basis for sustainable forest management, with extensive economic implications. It will specifically test the biodiversity implications of the new and increasingly important variable retention methods of forest harvesting, and provide the basis for optimising these methods. In addition, the large database of DNA barcodes for forest beetles developed as a by-product by this project will provide a basis for less expensive and more accurate biodiversity assessments in sustainable management of forest systems in general.Read moreRead less
Managing for persistence of the saproxylic biota in production forest landscapes. The pattern of 'fragmentation' and 'matrix alteration' being examined in this study mirrors not just other areas of Tasmania but also much of south-eastern Australia. The research addresses a conservation biology issue in a new and novel way and has been developed with, and is supported by an industry partner working in multiple-use forest management, so the research provides both immediate applied and strategic o ....Managing for persistence of the saproxylic biota in production forest landscapes. The pattern of 'fragmentation' and 'matrix alteration' being examined in this study mirrors not just other areas of Tasmania but also much of south-eastern Australia. The research addresses a conservation biology issue in a new and novel way and has been developed with, and is supported by an industry partner working in multiple-use forest management, so the research provides both immediate applied and strategic outcomes. These outcomes directly relate to forest sustainability especially the management of the biodiverse dead wood habitat including the harvesting of fuelwood.Read moreRead less
A new integrated approach for ecologically sustainable forest management. As harvested regions can maintain high levels of biodiversity, forestry has moved away from conservation in large reserves, and instead focuses on creating a dynamic mosaic of harvested and unharvested forest. However, designing this mosaic poses complex problems. This project aims to identify underlying patterns and processes determining how forest biodiversity is distributed and use this information to develop decision m ....A new integrated approach for ecologically sustainable forest management. As harvested regions can maintain high levels of biodiversity, forestry has moved away from conservation in large reserves, and instead focuses on creating a dynamic mosaic of harvested and unharvested forest. However, designing this mosaic poses complex problems. This project aims to identify underlying patterns and processes determining how forest biodiversity is distributed and use this information to develop decision models to underpin sustainable forest management plans. Existing and new evidence will be used, the latter derived from three innovative approaches for more efficient and cost effective biodiversity assessment: remote sensing of plants, next generation DNA technology of beetles and analysis of acoustic recording of birds.Read moreRead less
Optimising biodiversity conservation in managed forest landscapes. How to meet human needs for timber while limiting harm to biodiversity is an urgent scientific goal. The project will address this challenge by quantifying the impacts of forestry systems and wildfire on mammal species. Novel network modelling of interactions among plants, animals, and environmental variables will establish cost-effective management improvements to maximise biodiversity values. A systematic conservation planning ....Optimising biodiversity conservation in managed forest landscapes. How to meet human needs for timber while limiting harm to biodiversity is an urgent scientific goal. The project will address this challenge by quantifying the impacts of forestry systems and wildfire on mammal species. Novel network modelling of interactions among plants, animals, and environmental variables will establish cost-effective management improvements to maximise biodiversity values. A systematic conservation planning approach will deliver spatially and temporally explicit solutions to balancing trade-offs between production and conservation taking into account dynamic impacts from climate change and fire. Outcomes will provide a foundation for policy changes to put theoretical solutions into practice.Read moreRead less
Conserving biodiversity in timber production forests. Intensified forestry to meet rising demand for timber is placing biodiversity at risk. The aim of this project is to develop and field-test a novel framework to reconcile forest conservation with production. The project seeks to resolve whether intensive forestry coupled with a large reserve network produces better biodiversity outcomes than less intensive forestry with fewer reserves. I will integrate abundances of plant and animal species w ....Conserving biodiversity in timber production forests. Intensified forestry to meet rising demand for timber is placing biodiversity at risk. The aim of this project is to develop and field-test a novel framework to reconcile forest conservation with production. The project seeks to resolve whether intensive forestry coupled with a large reserve network produces better biodiversity outcomes than less intensive forestry with fewer reserves. I will integrate abundances of plant and animal species with forest industry timber yield data in a uniquely suited landscape. Survey results will be synthesised with global data on biodiversity responses to forestry. This research will benefit the forest industry by providing guidelines that improve conservation outcomes while maintaining timber yield.Read moreRead less
Risk, impact on productivity and control of Mycosphaerella infections in plantations in plantations of E. nitens and E. globulus. Mycosphaerella, a defoliating fungal pathogen of eucalypts, has the potential to change markedly the economics of plantation development. This research will explore the fundamental physiological and pathological processes associated with the disease, link these findings into established process-based models of forest plantation growth for predictive purposes and util ....Risk, impact on productivity and control of Mycosphaerella infections in plantations in plantations of E. nitens and E. globulus. Mycosphaerella, a defoliating fungal pathogen of eucalypts, has the potential to change markedly the economics of plantation development. This research will explore the fundamental physiological and pathological processes associated with the disease, link these findings into established process-based models of forest plantation growth for predictive purposes and utilise hyperspectral remote sensing techniques to scale impact from the tree to plantation level. In doing this research not only are questions of key importance to an important and growing industry sector addressed, but an innovative approach to disease impact assessment established and a skills base and methodology widely applicable to other tree and agricultural disease problems established.Read moreRead less
Linking environmental stress in pine plantations to bark stripping by browsers and fungal attack: developing novel options for management. The Australian forest industry, under the pressure of certification requirements, is moving towards a more integrated, reduced chemical, environmentally sustainable approach to protecting forest. Novel insights into the stress biology of pine will provide valuable information that will underpin efforts to reduce risk e.g. the matching of specific genotypes to ....Linking environmental stress in pine plantations to bark stripping by browsers and fungal attack: developing novel options for management. The Australian forest industry, under the pressure of certification requirements, is moving towards a more integrated, reduced chemical, environmentally sustainable approach to protecting forest. Novel insights into the stress biology of pine will provide valuable information that will underpin efforts to reduce risk e.g. the matching of specific genotypes to site so that pest resistance can be maintained even under environmental stress conditions. By understanding the 'attraction' factor of stressed pine to wallabies we will develop and test an urgently and nationally required diversionary feed for this browser. Lethal control involving poison is becoming increasingly restricted.Read moreRead less