Day 3

On this, the third day of my PhD, I figured it was probably a good time to chat about what my project is actually about.

Well, here's the fancy-sounding title that I put on my numerous scholarship applications: 

"The ecological impacts of catastrophic wildfire on tall forest ecosystems in southern Australia"

Sounds cool, right? But what does it actually mean?? 

The thing is, the first six months of a PhD is really the intensive planning stage. So, my direction might change, I will refine my ideas into bite-sized questions, and I'll write up my big ol' proposal that actually specific outlines what the heck I'll be doing! Then I'll be able to answer with more clarity and specificity exactly ~what~ my PhD is about.

But, to start with I can at least try and answer some initial questions about my (big, vague) title and unpack each component a bit...

What do do I mean by "ecological impacts"? 

I want to know how our unique Australian forest ecosystems - specifically the wet, very tall ones - will cope with the increasing frequency and severity of wildfire predicted under future climate change projections. I would like to find out if trees that are normally able to resprout following moderate severity fire will still be able resprout as effectively following extremely severe fire. 

And what about the understorey plants and fungi? 

Will plants that normally germinate from seeds following fire be affected if fires become more frequent and more severe? Will fungal spores be affected? What about the animals who call the understory home?

That's right, quokkas - scientific name Setonix brachyurous but also known as the "happiest animals in on earth" - aren't only found on Rottnest island! The largest remaining mainland population lives in the karri forest near Northcliffe (southwestern Australia) that was severely burnt in 2015. So, how are quokkas affected by changes in vegetation caused by extremely severe wildfires? I want to know!

What classifies a "catastrophic wildfire"? Also called "mega-fires", these are fire events that cause 'deep, long-lasting social, economic and environmental consequences’ and have 'astounding magnitude and impacts relative to our historical expectations'. In Australia, think Black Saturday in 2009, Northcliffe in 2015 and Tasmania in 2016.

Which forests am I focusing on? Well, my honours research focused on karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) forest, a vegetation type that is found nowhere else on earth except in the wettest corner of southwestern Australia. 

Karri trees can grow up to 90 metres tall and live for 400 years! I studied the effects of the Northcliffe 2015 fire on karri tree resprouting and understory plant regeneration. The Northcliffe 2015 fire was the largest karri forest fire on record and burned nearly 100,000 hectares.

Thanks to my awesome friend and fellow scientist, Jessica Moran, for making this map for me!

For my PhD project, I want to expand on my honours research and potentially compare karri forest response to fire with other tall forest types in eastern Australia, such as mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnant) forests...

PHEW! So, there you go. Hopefully that makes my initial title and overall theme a little clearer... Now I just have to work out what exactly I have the time, capability, funding and drive to achieve!