Research Program Fire ecology and management The vast majority of bushfires in Australia occur in the savanna landscapes of the tropical north, where bushfire issues relate primarily to landscape management rather than protection of life and property. The Aboriginal tradition of landscape burning continues strongly in northern Australia, and prescribed fire has been adopted as the key landscape management tool across the vast conservation estates of the north. The effects of different fire regimes on biodiversity remain a matter of considerable scientific debate. Such scientific uncertainty is accompanied by a high degree of public confusion and lack of understanding of the importance of fire in northern Australian landscapes. Research Projects   Kapalga Fire Experiment One of the world’s largest fire experiments has shown that frequent and widespread burning could be damaging biodiversity in northern Australia’s savanna bushland.   Fire Research and Education at the Territory Wildlife Park Results from the Kapalga experiment indicate there is a pressing need for further research on the importance of fire frequency and time-since-fire for ecological function and conservation management i...   Aboriginal wetland burning in Kakadu Aboriginal Australians successfully lived with landscape fire for tens of thousands of years prior to European settlement.   Fire modelling Simulation models are well suited to studying tree populations and the effect of fire on these trees.   Fire and Australian alpine environments Australian alpine landscapes are the treeless areas at and above treeline in the mountainous regions of the southeast.

Image: © Ian Morris

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