Fire frequency is a key determinant of species persistence in fire-prone vegetation. Essential to predicting the ability for species persistence is therefore knowing their primary juvenile period, which is used to inform and determine tolerable fire intervals. However, there is surprisingly little data that currently exists on this fundamental attribute, and where data do exist, it has not been collated or is easily accessible. Furthermore, even less is known about how primary juvenile period varies under different fire regime elements severely limiting our ability to predict species response or develop more informed tolerable thresholds.

This project will fill key knowledge gaps by collating and generating primary juvenile period for hundreds of species at landscape scales using citizen science and longitudinal studies. This will improve our ability to robustly inform tolerable fire interval thresholds.

(Image: Unsplash/Jack Bassingthwaite)