Daniel S. Banfai presents ‘The Kakadu rainforest story’ on Friday 1 December from 1pm to 2pm.
For decades scientists have grappled with intriguing questions about rainforests in Australia, including: what has caused the rainforest patches to have such a fragmented distribution? What determines the location of the rainforest boundaries? What drives changes in the boundaries over time?
These questions have been investigated in a study of the rainforests in Kakadu National Park. Here the integrity of the rainforest boundaries were thought to have been threatened over the last few decades by an increase in fire frequency and intensity, as well as feral animal disturbance. However, no broad-scale assessment of forest boundary change had been undertaken, and therefore, the rate and even direction of boundary change remained uncertain.
Daniel assessed changes to the boundaries of 50 rainforest patches using temporal sequences of digitised aerial photography, with a view to understanding the relative importance of the drivers of change. Various GIS, field survey and modelling approaches were also adopted to help unravel this mystery.
This is Daniel’s final university seminar of his PhD project and will constitute an overview of his main findings.
Daniel is in the final stages of his PhD with the School for Environmental Research at Charles Darwin University. He has previously completed a double degree in environmental science and geography at the University of Melbourne, as well as honours (science) at CDU. His research has involved the application of a diverse range of approaches, including statistical modelling, GIS, interviews and field surveys.
This seminar takes place in room 1, building 22 (22.01), Casuarina Campus, CDU.
Visit the School for Environmental Research website for more information about this and other SER seminars.