Treena Burgess

This transdisciplinary project has been examining the role of bandicoots as contribution to healthy urban bushland. Quenda (our local south-west Western Australia bandicoot species) move mycorrhizal fungi between reserves with their scats, and we have shown that these fungi are important for maintaining tree health. The challenge has therefore been to determine whether we can use quenda scats as an inoculant for seedlings to improve tree health.

This project will examine the influence of multiple stressors including disease, drought and fire, on the resilience of forest ecosystems within Australia. This project expects to generate new knowledge for land managers and the international community, in management of forest health by determining how soil health and soil fungi influence forest recovery after disturbance events. Anticipated outcomes include improved risk assessment of disturbed forests to future disturbances and significant benefits will include informing climate smart management goals in the recovery of important forest ecosystems, not only for the forest tree species but the animal, plant, insect and microbe communities that depend on these systems.