School of Geography - Theses

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    Understanding the response of Tasmanian rainforest to climate change in the absence of human influence
    Cooley, Sarah ( 2019)
    The predicted increase of climate-driven wildfires poses a threat to the endemic rainforest species of Tasmania. In order to sustainably conserve and manage these threatened ecosystems in the future, it is crucial to understand the natural response of western Tasmanian vegetation to rapid climate change. While previous research at the Lake Selina site in the region has produced a paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the environmental response to climate shifts during a period in which historical indigenous land management practices were in effect, there is a knowledge gap regarding the response of vegetation to rapid climatic warming in the absence of these practices, which describes the situation in western Tasmania today. As such, this thesis seeks to understand the post-glacial response of vegetation to warming Holocene climates in the absence of anthropogenic fire regimes. To do so, a multi-proxy analysis of lake sediments from Darwin Crater in western Tasmania is conducted in order to facilitate comprehensive palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a post-glacial environment. After establishing the suitability of conducting a comparison between the selected sites, this research goes on to determine the differences in the response of Tasmanian vegetation in the presence or absence of fire-based land management. The findings from this research identified a clear relationship between anthropogenic fire regimes and the response of western Tasmanian vegetation and can thus be used to project the future responses of vegetation in the region in the absence of indigenous land management practices.
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    Foredune geomorphology along Ninety Mile Beach
    Solomon, Jack ( 2017)
    Coastal foredunes occur at the boundary between the terrestrial, oceanic and atmospheric systems and therefore have numerous boundary conditions (factors that influence dune development). Dunes provide numerous ecosystem services, primarily protection of the land behind from inundation. Dune morphodynamics are not yet comprehensively understood. Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland, Victoria provides a unique opportunity to examine dune morphology and its boundary conditions under one continuous stretch of coastline that undergoes a substantial change in orientation. The beach has also been labelled as one of the most vulnerable to climate change in national assessments. Climate change is affecting dune morphology through increased storm activity and sea level rise, therefore understanding the dunal system is increasingly important. This project will analyse and describe foredune geomorphology along this coastline. By measuring dune morphology and the impacts of the boundary conditions of aeolian processes and vegetation. This project aims to create a morphometric model for the foredunes along NMB. This study therefore sets out to explore the morphology of NMB in order to understand its dynamics and provide insights into dune development globally. Varied dune morphology was found along NMB. Coastal orientation and hence wind direction as well as wind velocity were found to be the key drivers of initial foredune development along this coastline with increased onshore and stronger winds leading to dunes greater in area and width. Vegetation controlled morphology was present on three of the eleven sites though no statistically significant correlations were found on this coastline. However, the sites exhibiting vegetation controlled morphology had many stolons present suggesting their importance in stabilising dune morphology along this coastline. NMB dune morphology is dominated by wind. Ultimately, any change in wind regime due to climate change could dramatically effect dune morphology along this coastline.