Heathlands

The Conservation Ecology Centre’s research in the heathlands of the Otways focuses on fire ecology.

Understanding how fire shapes the relationships between wildlife, vegetation, invasive species and ecological processes in one of the region’s most fire-prone and biodiverse ecosystems.

The integrated research investigates how different fire histories and other management techniques affect vegetation structure, species composition, and habitat availability, and how these changes influence the presence and behaviour of native wildlife, including threatened species.

This research is helping to inform more nuanced, place-based, adaptive fire regimes that maintain ecological integrity, protect threatened species, support the natural role of fire as part of a healthy landscape, and can assist with long term biocultural objectives such as the return of the Eastern Ground Parrot.