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Laura Warman PhD candidate at the University of New South
Wales in Sydney, Australia |
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l.warman at
student.unsw.edu.au |
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I’ve always been fascinated by tropical
ecology. I’m particularly interested in the processes that occur in
tropical
rainforests. Most of my experience comes from
Neotropical forests in Mexico and Costa Rica.
I am currently in Australia working on large-scale, non-linear,
landscape
dynamics in the vegetation of Far North
Queensland.
PhD
Project:
Alternative stable states in the Wet Tropics of Australia
My
project
examines whether rainforest and fire-prone (pyrophytic) vegetation in
the Wet
Tropics of Far North Queensland can be considered alternative stable
states
within
a
large complex
system. Fire-vegetation feedbacks for
the region are well documented, but water-related feedbacks are not. I
think
both types of feedback have strongly
influenced
historical and present-day vegetation dynamics and distributions.
Alternative
stable states have been documented in other regions of Australia,
particularly
in rangelands and more arid systems (where they have often been
described
within
state-and-transition
models). However this project seeks to explicitly tie in the vegetation
of the
Wet Tropics to theoretical models of Alternative Stable States and
resilience.
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Publications:
Warman, L.
& Moles A.T (In press) Alternative stable states in Australia's Wet
Tropics: a theoretical framework for the field data and a field case
for the
theory. Landscape Ecology
Ecotourism for Conservation: An Interpretive Manual for the
Guides of
Chajul Field Station, Chiapas, Mexico.” Bachelor’s Degree Thesis for
the
National Autonomous University
of Mexico (UNAM)
Non-peer reviewed: A collection of
essays on rainforest ecology in: “La Selva de Chajul: Un espacio
natural”.
Edited by ENDESU, A.C, Mexico.
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Contact: Email: l.warman at student.unsw.edu.au Phone: +61
2 9385-8272 Postal
address: Evolution & Ecology Research Centre |
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Links: Big ideas at the Big
Ecology website More big ideas at the
Resilience Alliance Evolution and Ecology
Research Centre |
