Fire Severity and Forest Flammability
One of the most pressing questions which arose from my research into reburn fire severity was the mechanism driving the positive effect I found. How does fire severity affect the flammability of forests? And how does this affect subsequent fires? To answer these questions I undertook an extensive fieldwork campaign in the Greater Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
I surveyed sites in dry sclerophyll forest which had been burnt with a mix of high and low severity, and some which hadn’t been burnt in the recorded fire history.
I used multiple techniques to sample along transects at each site, including point-intercept measurements, tree diameter measurements, and canopy photos. I also identified the species of each tree and shrub intersecting the transects.
Five years post-fire, I found that shrub cover was greater after high severity fire than after low severity fire, and the separation between the understory and canopy was also less at high severity sites. This indicates that high severity fire moves the forest to a more flammable structure. You can read more about this here.
Main Collaborators
Owen Price - University of Wollongong
Meaghan Jenkins - University of Wollongong/ NSW Rural Fire Service