PhD Project: Impacts of changing fire regime, specifically season and severity on Australian flora.
In response to the 2019/2020 Australian summer fires, Alex will assess the impacts of fire on the Endangered Ecological Community- Upland Basalt Eucalypt Forests of the Sydney Bioregion at different severity gradients. Alex will also assess serotinous seedbanks in dry sclerophyll forests at different levels of fire severity. The project will also explore how shifting fire season affects terrestrial orchid species and if phenology and particular mycorrhizal relationships change the effects of fire seasonality.
Alex has also worked as a Research Assistant for Professor David Keith and Dr Mark Ooi at UNSW, assessing a method for recording post-fire recovery of plants in response to different elements of the fire regime. Alex has also assisted in monitoring for threatened species Asterolasia buxifolia and Prostanthera discolour.
