Alina is completing her Masters of Botany at the University of Melbourne. Her research focused on modelling bird responses to wildfire and prescribed burning in Victoria’s foothills forest. This project was supervised by Professor Mick McCarthy, Dr. Luke Kelly and Dr. Karen Rowe (Museum Victoria).

The findings from this study demonstrated the negative impact of large-scale and frequent prescribed burning on bird communities. This research emphasizes the importance of considering biodiversity conservation objectives when managing fire in forest landscapes.

This project was funded by the Stuart Leslie Bird Research Award.