Bushfire & Biodiversity

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2014:

This subject is taught intensively at the Creswick Campus from 17th March - 28th March 2014. This subject is taught on alternate years.

Please note that this subject has a pre-teaching date of 03/03/14 - 14/03/14, and during this time students will be required to read background material associated with Laboratory Assignment 1.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The course covers the basic effects of fire on aspects of biodiversity and ecological processes. Managers are committed to developing science-based ecological burning strategies which achieve both biodiversity and asset protection objectives. Increased knowledge of the ecological impacts of fire on plants and animals facilitates a better understanding of how more effective management can be achieved.

By the end of the subject students should:

* Have an understanding of the nature of plant responses to fire; particularly with regard to seeders and resprouters, seed storage and dispersal and the consequences of repeated fire

* Have an understanding of the response of animals to fire as individuals, populations and assemblages (communities)

* Have an appreciation that these impacts operate at the ecosystem level, depending on attributes of the species concerned and landscape factors such as connectivity and habitat condition

* Have an appreciation that the way fire(s) influence biodiversity depends on a set of interacting factors, including both pre- and post-fire weather, competition and predation

* Have a better understanding of landscape-scale management, where current scientific knowledge is incorporated into planning, monitoring and legislation cycle

• Laboratory Exercise - 10%,
• Group Presentation - 10%
• Field Exercise and Report - 20%
• Major Report (4,000 words) - 60%

None

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.