Research leader

Dr Steve Leonard Research Leader

End User representatives

Gordon Friend End-User

This project was commissioned and funded entirely by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria. 

This project aimed to:

  • provide new and collate existing data to test and model the relationships between flora, fauna, habitat attributes and vegetation growth stages in Victoria foothill forests
  • use these models to refine the ecosystem resilience inputs into adaptive fire management and planning
  • test the models as part of a fire planning case study in the foothill forests
  • develop conceptual and empirical/fundamental models to test and describe the links between fire science and ecological knowledge gained from small-scale plot research and monitoring with landscape level decision making
  • collate existing data and, where possible provide new data, to test and model the relationships between fire severity/patchiness and fuel and habitat structures in Victorian foothill forests
  • develop and test models to quantify links between these fire and habitat attributes and flora and fauna distribution and abundances, and vegetation growth stages
  • develop and test a suite of remote sensing and monitoring techniques to extrapolate from small-scale plot-based information to landscape-level effects and outcomes through improved research design or monitoring
  • use these techniques and models to refine the fire behaviour and ecosystem resilience inputs into adaptive fire management and planning.

This project provided DELWP with:

  • field-based data on plant and animal (vertebrate) species, vegetation density, structure and habitat attributes for the fire-treatable EVDs for Victorian foothill forests
  • cross-referenced tables linking above species and their relative (geometric mean) abundances (and if possible various habitat parameters) to the recognised vegetation growth stages for each EVD as described in Cheal 2010
  • models of the relationships between flora, faunam, habitat attributes and vegetation growth stages
  • growth stage distribution 'targets' for each EVD derived from optimisation modelling of geometric mean abundances of all species
  • testing and refining of the models and targets in a fire planning case study
  • initial, progress and final project communications materials, including briefs and presentations developed - partners and stakeholders informed
  • conceptual and numerical models describing the relationships between generalised models and landscape outputs and outcomes
  • improved research and monitoring techniques including, where possible, remote sensing and monitoring techniques that enable extrapolation from small-scale plot-based information on fire and habitat attributes to landscape-level effects and outcomes
  • testing and refining of the models and targets in two fire planning case studies
  • project stakeholder communications materials.
Angie Haslem Conference Poster 2016
14 Aug 2016
This project was commissioned and funded entirely by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning...