https://www.barkerecology.net/home daily 1.0 2024-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623480732187-EPNVZ008J1HSSGYQ9E62/IMG_20190708_111553.jpg Home - Research Find out about my research interests and the projects I’ve worked on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623480894682-IHDTZ9GI7WXIEX96A5GI/IMG_20180724_112952.jpg Home - Publications Take a look at my published research. https://www.barkerecology.net/about daily 0.75 2024-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623465857523-ETT71OKMRG9WL2U6KP8J/IMG_20190702_100939.jpg About - About me I am a scientist working in the Applied Bushfire Science program at the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. I completed my PhD at the University of Wollongong. I am a terrestrial landscape ecologist working in the field of fire ecology and management. My PhD research was focused on relationships between multiple successive landscape fires, specifically fire severity, including impacts on vegetation structure, composition, and recovery. My research has included both spatial science and field-based methods, complemented by robust statistical analysis and broad ecological knowledge of fire and vegetation. My skills include mapping and spatial analysis, vegetation structure and floristics surveys, and statistical analysis using R. I am active in the ecological community, being invoved in the Ecological Society of Australia. I am a member of the Equity & Diversity and Early Career Ecologist Working Groups of ESA and I helped to organise the 2020 ESA annual conference. He/Him ️‍ https://www.barkerecology.net/contact daily 0.75 2024-03-20 https://www.barkerecology.net/publications daily 0.75 2022-04-16 https://www.barkerecology.net/experience daily 0.75 2024-03-20 https://www.barkerecology.net/projects daily 0.75 2022-08-15 https://www.barkerecology.net/projects/cermb monthly 0.5 2021-06-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623551400364-DIKL2N29WYHSECYJA7JJ/IMG_20200121_103645.jpg Projects - CERMB and Hub Research - Other Work I have conducted an analysis of human fatalities in fire and flood events in Australia. I regularly assist with data management, analysis, and visualisation. I have assisted other members of the centre with fieldwork. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623551292543-S5DQTRXJ9Y4DB5IUYTMU/IMG_20200122_133906.jpg Projects - CERMB and Hub Research - NSW Bushfire Inquiry After the 2019-20 bushfires in Australia, the NSW Government set up an inquiry to investigate the causes and consequences of the fire season. The NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub made a detailed submission to this inquiry, which formed a large part of their final report. I assisted in the creation of high quality fire progression mapping for the submission, to facilitate analysis of fire behaviour and impact. The submission reports can be read in full here. The Bushfire Hub were awarded a Eureka Prize for this work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623552081299-QBNWFXG6YOPRF8ZQC1BD/linescan.png Projects - CERMB and Hub Research - 2013 Fire Reconstruction I assisted on a project reconstructing the 2013 Linksview Road fire in the Blue Mountains to assess the causes of house loss. I produced a fire progression map based on linescans, satellite products, and RFS situation reports from the fire. I also conducted a spatial and statistical analysis of house loss based on their proximity to trees, shrubs, and continuous vegetation. Elements of this work were later incorporated into a paper. https://www.barkerecology.net/projects/reburns monthly 0.5 2021-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623545907850-25ZSHXENH71GXAI9G86J/Picture3.png Projects - Fire Severity in Reburnt Forest We hypothesised that high severity fire promotes rapid dense shrub recruitment and regeneration, creating a more continuous fuel structure and increasing flammability. If another fire occurs, the flames have a pathway into the forest canopy, making high severity fire more likely. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623551815338-0HLC870EGYOEI1P5ZZB1/sev.png Projects - Fire Severity in Reburnt Forest - Fire Severity in the 2019-20 Fires Coming soon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623545748388-FJN7EM2VBCWFXVH4B6OP/Picture1.png Projects - Fire Severity in Reburnt Forest I found that high severity fire was more likely after a previous high severity fire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623546135008-GWBZFCVLYZTHAIJME7CB/Picture4.png Projects - Fire Severity in Reburnt Forest I expanded the research to investigate the effects of a sequence of previous fires on fire severity and found that two previous fires have a detectable effect on the third. Read more here. https://www.barkerecology.net/projects/flammability monthly 0.5 2021-06-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623485502593-KR4WMNEAQK95F197SCWT/IMG_20190321_141336.jpg Projects - Fire Severity and Forest Flammability 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. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1639117393408-579G6TFL6NQMK6GHOFM0/forestgraph.png Projects - Fire Severity and Forest Flammability - 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. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c415eaa0b6a72781aad269/1623485729598-I07B44JOCO6PY3FEOZNG/IMG_20181009_123832.jpg Projects - Fire Severity and Forest Flammability 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. https://www.barkerecology.net/projects/applied-bushfire-science-program monthly 0.5 2022-08-11