Forestry Sciences

Research in the field of forestry sciences from the Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne.

Researchers

Peter Ades     The population genetics of trees, particularly eucalypts, their evolution and adaption, the genetic basis of disease resistance and how we can manage disease in cultivated populations.

Patrick Baker     Research on forest dynamics, silviculture, and reconstructing past climates.

Benoit Belleville     Combining forestry and engineering, with a focus on plantation-grown wood, to develop engineered wood products; the physical and mechanical properties of wood and wood products.

Lauren Bennett     Research in the effects of disturbances, like fire and climate change, on the ecosystem processes that underpin carbon and nutrient cycles.

Gerd Bossinger     Forest molecular biology and genetics with an emphasis on cambium differentiation, the regulation of wood formation and wood quality determination in forest trees.

Jane Cawson     Research examining bushfire behaviour and management, and the effect on vegetation and soils with a current focus on understanding flammability in wetter forests.

Thomas Duff     Research on a range of aspects of wildfires, their management and impacts on human values.’

Rebecca Ford     Studies in the underlying basis for public views about forest management in people’s aesthetic responses and their cognitive attitudes.

Sabine Kasel     Research investigating the effects of management and climate change on ecosystem processes in native forests and restored landscapes.

Rodney Keenan     Research in forests and climate change (mitigation and adaptation), the role of forests in providing ecosystem services and in forest and climate policy.

Craig Nitschke     Research on the impact of management, disturbance and climate on forest ecosystems, adaptation to climate change and the sustainable management of forests.

Barbara Ozarska     Research on value-added utilisation of plantation timber for high-value wood products based on solid wood, veneers and engineered wood.

Trent Penman     Bushfire risk modelling with research on quantifying the risk trade-offs in landscape fire management considering a range of human and environmental assets.

Andrea Rawluk     Interdisciplinary research in complex social ecological challenges, including bushfire management and community engagement, social memory, landscape transformation, power.

Kirsten Raynor     Research in urban landscape management including planting design and plant selection, green roofs and facades, and therapeutic landscapes.

Antanas Spokevicius     Research around aspects of production and adaptation of natural and plantation tree populations under future climates through the use of genomics tools.

Kevin Tolhurst     Research in fire ecology and fire behaviour with close work alongside government agencies to ensure improved landscape management.

Luba Volkova     Forest and peat fires, greenhouse gas accounting, bushfire fuels and inventory, model simulation of GHG emissions under a range of management scenarios, and REDD+.

Chris Weston     Studies in forest net productivity, nutrient and carbon cycles, the effects of fire on forest carbon balance, black carbon formation and impact of climate change on forest fuel accumulation.

Ian Woodrow     How plants synthesise and store secondary metabolites, with a focus on Australian native species and metabolites of commercial interest.

Research in this area is conducted in the School of Biosciences and School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem  Sciences.