Searching for the hot moments: Bushfire recovery of a subtropical coastal wetland - Dr Nina Welti, UQ School of Civil Engineering

Event Details

Date:

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Time:

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Room:

320

UQ Location:

Steele Building (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.gpem.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=132306&pid=114393

Event category(s):

Full Description:: The aim of this project was to quantify the recovery of a groundwater dependent ecosystem following a destructive bushfire. Here I present the results of a yearlong field study which followed the vegetation community as well as the release and return of soil nutrients. The intensity of the fire removed all shrub and grass populations from a coastal wetland located on N. Stradbroke Island. However, the local groundwater prevented complete destruction of the seed bank and root systems, allowing a quick recovery of the area. One month prior to the fire, a comprehensive vegetation survey was completed which created the lucky possibility of monitoring the recovery of the affected freshwater wetland and salt marsh. I will discuss the changes in soil biogeochemistry along with the successional recovery of the area.

Dr Nina Welti is a limnologist and biogeochemist concentrating on the interactions between surface and groundwater on biogeochemical processes. She is currently a postdoc in the School of Civil Engineering and the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) after having obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna, Austria in collaboration with the WasserCluster Lunz.