Unit of Study FORS2001 Fire Ecology and Management (2025)

Unit description

Examines the role of fire in terrestrial ecosystems, with a particular emphasis on the importance of fire in regulating vegetation distribution and structure, and the habitats of plants and animals. The unit also introduces students to the ways in which changing landuse and climate influence fire regimes, and the interaction between fire regimes, climate and carbon cycling through time The management of fire regimes will be examined, including for ecological restoration, hazard reduction and Aboriginal cultural burning, and how improved fire management can improve the resilience of these systems in the face of global change.

Unit content

1. Fire Through Time: pre-human, Aboriginal and European fire

2. Plant and Animal Adaptations: surviving fire and exploiting the post fire environment

3. Open-ecosystems: the role of fire in shaping ecosystem structure & distribution

4. Fire Behaviour: the role of weather, topography and fuel dynamics

5. Fire Management: managing fire regimes for hazard reduction and ecological burning, cultural burning

6. Fire in a Changing World: climate change; carbon cycles and using fire in ecological restoration