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Professor, Bushfire Science, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University

Geoff Cary is a Professor in bushfire science at The Australian National University. He graduated with a PhD in landscape fire modelling from ANU in 1999. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in bushfire science, including ‘Fire in the Environment’ with a range of bushfire experts, and supervises honours and graduate students investigating diverse wildland fire topics. Geoff is a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee for the International Journal of Wildland Fire, and has been a member of both the Australian Capital Territory Bushfire Council and the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council.

Geoff’s research interests include evaluating fire management and climate change impacts on fire regimes using landscape-scale simulation modelling, ecological investigations of interactions between fire and biota, empirical analysis of house loss in catastrophic bushfire events, and laboratory experimentation of fire behaviour.

Experience

  • 2022–present
    Professor, The Australian National University
  • 2012–2021
    Associate Professor, The Australian National University
  • 2005–2012
    Senior Lecturer, The Australian National University

Education

  • 1999 
    The Australian National University, PhD
  • 1992 
    University of Technology, Sydney, B.App.Sci.(Environmental Biology)(Hons)

Publications

  • 2022
    Controlled field experiment clarifies the influence of soil moisture on litter moisture content, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
  • 2022
    Comparison of contrasting optical and LiDAR fire severity remote sensing methods in a heterogeneous forested landscape in south-eastern Australia, International Journal of Remote Sensing
  • 2022
    Time since fire influences macropod occurrence in a fire‐prone coastal ecosystem, Austral Ecology
  • 2022
    What determines variation in remotely sensed fire severity? Consideration of remote sensing limitations and confounding factors, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2022
    Direct and indirect effects of fire on microbial communities in a pyrodiverse dry‐sclerophyll forest, Journal of Ecology
  • 2021
    Forest fire fuel through the lens of remote sensing: Review of approaches, challenges and future directions in the remote sensing of biotic determinants of fire behaviour, Remote Sensing of Environment
  • 2021
    Unburnt habitat patches are critical for survival and in situ population recovery in a small mammal after fire, Journal of Applied Ecology
  • 2021
    The influence of soil moisture on surface and sub-surface litter fuel moisture simulation at five Australian sites, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
  • 2021
    Stand boundary effects on obligate seeding Eucalyptus delegatensis regeneration and fuel dynamics following high and low severity fire: Implications for species resilience to recurrent fire, Austral Ecology
  • 2021
    Effects of altered fire intervals on critical timber production and conservation values, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2020
    Exploring the key drivers of forest flammability in wet eucalypt forests using expert-derived conceptual models, Landscape Ecology
  • 2020
    Animals as agents in fire regimes, Trends in Ecology & Evolution
  • 2020
    The proximal drivers of large fires: a pyrogeographic study, Frontiers in Earth Science
  • 2019
    Features associated with effective biodiversity monitoring and evaluation, Biological Conservation
  • 2019
    More long‐unburnt forest will benefit mammals in Australian sub‐alpine forests and woodlands, Austral Ecology
  • 2018
    A fuel moisture content and flammability monitoring methodology for continental Australia based on optical remote sensing, Remote Sensing of Environment
  • 2018
    A comparison of fuel hazard in recently burned and long-unburned forests and woodlands, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2018
    Options for reducing house-losses during wildfires without clearing trees and shrubs, Landscape and Urban Planning
  • 2018
    You own the fuel, but who owns the fire?, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2017
    Importance of fuel treatment for limiting moderate-to-high intensity fire: findings from comparative fire modelling, Landscape Ecology
  • 2017
    Importance of fuel treatment for limiting moderate-to-high intensity fire: findings from comparative fire modelling, Landscape Ecology
  • 2016
    Repeatability of free-burning fire experiments using heterogeneous forest fuel beds in a combustion wind tunnel, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2016
    Future changes in climatic water balance determine potential for transformational shifts in Australian fire regimes, Environmental Research Letters
  • 2016
    Biophysical mechanistic modelling quantifies the effects of plant traits on fire severity: species, not surface fuel loads, determine flame dimensions in eucalypt forests, PLoS ONE
  • 2016
    Natural hazards in Australia: extreme bushfire, Climatic Change
  • 2015
    Long-distance spotting potential of bark strips of a ribbon gum (Eucalyptus viminalis), International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2014
    Exploring the use of economic evaluation in Australian wildland fire management decision-making, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2014
    Evaluating benefits and costs of wildland fires: critical review and future applications, Environmental Hazards
  • 2013
    Forest fire management, climate change, and the risk of catastrophic carbon losses, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
  • 2013
    How does ecological disturbance influence genetic diversity?, Trends in Ecology and Evolution
  • 2013
    Fire regimes of Australia: a pyrogeographic model system, Journal of Biogeography
  • 2013
    A conceptual framework for predicting temperate ecosystem sensitivity to human impacts on fire regimes, Global Ecology and Biogeogrpahy
  • 2013
    Exploring the role of fire, succession, climate, and weather on landscape dynamics using comparative modeling, Ecological Modelling
  • 2013
    The worldwide “wildfire” problem, Ecological Applications
  • 2013
    Contrasting fire responses to climate and management: insights from two Australian ecosystems, Global Change Biology
  • 2012
    Land Management Practices Associated with House Loss in Wildfires, PLOS ONE
  • 2012
    Global change and fire regimes in Australia, Flammable Australia: Fire Regimes, Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing World

Research Areas

  • Forestry Fire Management (070503)
  • Environmental Management (050205)
  • Ecological Impacts Of Climate Change (050101)
  • Fenner School of Environment & Society, The Australian National University
  • Website
  • Article Feed
  • +61 2 6125 0059
  • geoffrey.cary@anu.edu.au
  • ORCID
  • Joined