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Fire management across New South Wales is currently based on plant responses to just one aspect of the fire regime, fire frequency. However, a new fire management framework is underway, which encompasses ecosystems, as opposed to single species.

Project lead: Tom Le Breton. Team: Mark Tozer, David Keith, Mark Ooi 

Researchers have a good understanding of how species (flora and fauna) are impacted by fire and other threats (herbivory, drought etc.), as well as by changes to the fire regime (frequency, severity, season and type). There is a knowledge gap, however, in our understanding of ecosystem processes and how fire interacts with the large number of taxa that make up an ecosystem. in this project, led by Tom, we aim to develop fire management recommendations which encompass the full diversity of fire responses within an ecosystem. We will do this by applying a new framework to the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Critically Endangered Ecological Community as a pilot. This framework can then be tested and applied across other ecological communities. 

This project is being conducted through the NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre, in collaboration with NSW DCCEEW, NSW Rural Fire Service, and NSW Golf Course.