About Us
We are plant ecologists working at Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia. Understanding how environmental extremes and disturbances drive landscape function is at the heart of what we do.
eXtreme Plant Ecology has a focus on alpine and heathy woodland environments and our research tackles questions on how vegetation is responding to extreme temperatures, droughts and fire. Our research is highly applied and is utilised by land managers to improve ecosystem function, increase catchment health and maintain high levels of biodiversity.
Our Research Aims
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Understanding how alpine plant species and communities tolerate extreme environmental conditions such as heat waves, frosts, drought and fire
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Determining the role of alpine shrubs as ecosystem engineers and investigating snow-shrub relationships
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Alpine plant recruitment strategies under extreme conditions
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Understanding responses of different plant functional groups to altered fire regimes in heathy woodlands