Aaron Heap

I am inspired by being out in Australia's natural areas and parks, I especially have an interest in how fire affects the landscape.

When I arrived in Australia from New Zealand, I wasn’t too sure which institute I wanted to study at. I was told about how well University of Melbourne is ranked throughout the world, so I started to look there for graduate courses that focused on teaching the skills I was looking for. This I when I found the Masters of Ecosystem Management and Conservation.

I am inspired by being out in Australia's natural areas and parks. I especially have an interest in how fire affects the landscape, so I enjoy keeping up to date at with the science happening in that area. I am also very inspired by seeing other people appreciate natural areas and forests. The Master of Ecosystem Management and Conservation means I can look at the scientific side of the Australian landscape while working out in the real environment through field trips.

I have really enjoyed to field trip components which have been a big part of our course. The field trips are an amazing learning experience in themselves. However, I found the conversations while walking or driving in vans with academics and my peers to be a highlight. Being amongst like-minded people sharing knowledge about the environment was an extra element of learning and a great way to establish ongoing professional relationships.

In my experience the programs are designed to fill the needs of industry. The facilities are world class and I have found all of the staff I have interacted with to be invested in helping whether it is academics, library staff, or the people at Stop1.

I’m also in the early days of working on a research project with Dr Gary Sheridan from the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences. There is quite a bit of debate about mountain ash forests and if the flammability increases or decreases with age. While some studies are that fire severity or fuel availability decreases with forest age, other research in wet forests suggests that forest age is not the only factor driving flammability. My study is using remote sensing Lidar data to analyse the structural variability in forests of different ages. The key difference I will be looking at is the amount of light penetration as this will affect how dry the forest is. This kind of research can help explain the contradictory results of previous studies and I hope will be influential in our overall understanding of fire in different landscapes.

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