TESS Seminar: New perspectives on fire, logging and management in tall, wet temperate forests

This seminar presents key findings from an array of long-term studies in the tall, wet eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia (which have been ongoing since mid-1983). The work has shown that clearcut logging has had major negative impacts on forest structure (including the accelerated decline of large old trees), altered plant species composition, and reduced animal biodiversity. Empirical studies also have uncovered strong evidence of relationships between logging and fire – harvested and then regenerated stands are significantly more likely to burn at elevated severity. This effect – termed disturbance-stimulated flammability – can last for 40-70 years after logged stands have been regenerated. Similar effects are seen after forests are subject to mechanical thinning. This talk canvasses key options for improved conservation actions, given the long-term effects of disturbance-stimulated flammability.

Distinguished Professor David Lindenmayer is a conservation biologist and landscape ecologist whose research focuses on the ecology and management of forest, woodland and agricultural ecosystems, with a particular emphasis on biodiversity conservation and long-term ecological research. He has led six long-term research programs examining biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource management across forests, plantations, reserves and agricultural landscapes. Professor Lindenmayer has published more than 1,600 scientific works, including over 1,000 peer-reviewed journal articles and 51 books. He is one of the world's most highly cited researchers in ecology and conservation biology, with an h-index of 166 and more than 118,000 citations, and has been recognised on multiple Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers lists.