This presentation by Samantha Lloyd of SE Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium will explore the importance of supporting regional fire applied research, the opportunities for dissemination of the key fire applied research findings to landholders and policy makers and management implications drawn from the current South East Queensland focused research.

1. Research Student Scholarship
Program
Dr Samantha Lloyd
www.fireandbiodiversity.org.au

2. • Established in 1998, the SEQFBC is 17 years old!
• Non government and not-for-profit.
SEQ Fire & Biodiversity
Consortium
• Aim: Translate
science into practice
for improved fire
management and
biodiversity
conservation in SEQ.

3. Thank you to our
Sponsors

4. • We have three priority
areas:
1. Education &
engagement.
2. Applied research.
3. Representation &
response.
SEQ Fire & Biodiversity
Consortium

5. Scholarship Program
• Aims to provide financial assistance & support.
• Honours, Masters & PhD students.
• Research in fire ecology &/or fire management in the
SEQ Bioregion.
• Annual (financial year) & worth $3000.
• Launched ~ October &
closes mid-December.
• Thanks to Fireland
Consultancy.

6. Scholarship Program
• Judged on merit by panel three SEQFBC SC members.
• Students complete an application form, project
information & budget.
• Announce the winner at Autumn Forum & promote
via newsletter, website, ESA etc.
• Students contribute:
• Newsletter article;
• Presentation;
• RWG meeting
• Summary report.

7. Diana Virkki - 2012/2013
• PhD project at Griffith University.
• Fire management guidelines primarily built on plant
responses with limited information on fauna.
• Assess how reptiles & small mammals respond to
spatio-temporal fire mosaics across the landscape of
SEQ eucalypt forest.
• Made use of long-term research plots at Bauple SF.
• Undertook reptile & small mammal surveys &
BioCondition vegetation & habitat surveys.
• Completed 2014.

8. Diana
Virkki -
2012/2013
• Reptile abundance &
species richness was best
explained by total number
of fires & fire type
(planned, wildfire or top
disposal).
• Correlations of reptile
parameters were much
stronger with fire
variables than vegetation.

9. Ross Waldron - 2013/2014
• Honours project at University of the Sunshine
Coast.
• Comparing impacts of wildfire & prescribed
burning on woody understorey composition & the
reaction of eucalypt regeneration in dry open
forest.
• Made use long-term research plots at Bauple SF.
• Awarded 1st
Class Honours.

10. Ross Waldron - 2013/2014
• Single wildfire, after
period of fire
exclusion, can
substantially change
vegetation structure
of forest, but have less
impact on species
composition 7 years
post-fire.

11. Brett Parker - 2013/2014
• Honours project at University of the Sunshine
Coast.
• Remote sensing techniques to identify & quantify
spatial patterns of fire severity over 23 years in
SEQ heath & woodland.
• Assess the accuracy of Landsat & WorldView-2
imagery to map burnt area & burn severity in burn
scars less than 2ha.
• Feed this back into fire regimes.
• Mooloolah River National Park over 23years.
• Awarded 1st
Class Honours.

12. Brett Parker - 2013/2014
• Remote sensing of
Melaleuca & Eucalypt
woodlands were well
correlated with field
measurements (fire
severity).
• Increasing time-since-fire
was followed by large
fires (>40% burnt).
• Burnt area interval was <
ecological thresholds in
75% of heath.

13. Martyn Eliott - 2014/2015
• Honours project at University of the Sunshine
Coast.
• Hypothesis: The composition of cerambycid
beetles is affected by fire regime through changes
in habitat.
• Identify link between fire affected habitat/forest
health & beetle composition = bioindicator.
• Making use long-term research plots at Bauple SF.
• Field work Feb - May.
• Results to come…

14. • Burnt annually (1952)
• Burnt every three
years (1973)
• Unburnt area (1946)
• Wildfire area (2006)
Martyn Eliott

15. Manager: Dr Samantha Lloyd
Coordinator: Craig Welden
Phone: 0438 008 668
Email:
Sam: slloyd@seqcatchments.com.au
Craig: cwelden@seqcatchments.com.au
Website: www.fireandbiodiversity.org.au
Contact Details

16. Christmas Bells (Blandfordia grandiflora) flowering post burn, 2006 (D.Metters).
Questions