Fire Research in Australia’s fire-prone heathlands

Mark Ooi (Senior Research Fellow from UNSW) is conducting research into post fire recovery of Australia’s heathlands and thanks to SEQ Fire and Biodiversity Consortium, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and HQ Plantations is extending his research into the heathlands of the South East Queensland. The overall project Mark and his team are involved with is aimed at improving conservation outcomes for planned burns. The study will help to improve understanding of post-fire recovery and recruitment of the vegetation in these areas, especially the threatened species Boronia keysii and rare B. rivularis. We are particularly interested in the effects of conducting burns in different seasons.
This project is supported by the SE Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium and is part of the NESP-funded work (as part of their Threatened Species Recovery Hub - Project 1.3). This project is based at the Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological Earth & Environmental Sciences, UNSW. Research on the Boronias is being conducted by Dr Mark Ooi and PhD student Justin Collette both from UNSW.
This fire was implemented as an ecological burn was a collaborative effort between Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and HQ Plantations (see Photo 1 (Photo credit: Kate Clapson HQ Plantations) attached: from left to right Ian Last (Science Manager HQ Plantations), Justin Collette (PhD student from UNSW), Mark Ooi (Senior Research Fellow from UNSW), Peter Leeson (Principal Conservation Officer QPWS))

The burn on the day was successful, with good conditions with a future burn aiming to be completed later this year, in order to compare recovery after the two seasons. May 2018 

Photo: Bottom, Mark Ooi collecting soil samples post fire. Photo by Justin Collette (PhD Student from UNSW).

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