Ecological research: altered fire regimes in the Northern Rivers

Wildsite’s senior ecologist, Dr Andy Baker, was the lead researcher for a suite of ecological studies that examined the ecological consequences of fire exclusion in long-unburnt Eucalypt forests of the Bundjalung Wilderness Area of NSW.

The studies were a collaboration between Southern Cross University, the NSW Department of Environment, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, and the University of Queensland. The three seperate studies examined the effects of fire exclusion on:

• Heathy ground layer flora communitues
• Insectivorous bat communities
• Forest flammability and function