Thay is an environmental scientist and marine biologist currently investigating the impacts of wildfires on waterways.
With experience in estuarine ecology, ecotoxicology, and zoology, she has a special interest in coastal management and the impacts of anthropogenic activities on marine ecosystems (plus a weird obsession for polychaetes).
Project: The impacts of bushfire disturbances on estuaries
Supervised by: Mariana Mayer Pinto, Emma Johnston, Katherine Dafforn, Stuart Simpson
Project Description: The 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire season was declared the worst in Australian history by the NSW Rural Fire Service; the burnt area covered 13.6 million acres just here in NSW (NSW Department of Planning, 2020). Major bushfire events like the Black Summer are predicted to become more frequent and of greater ‘peak’ magnitude over the next century. In addition to their impact on land, bushfires can also affect aquatic systems by increasing the inputs of fire-derived substances and sediment through increased post-fire soil erosion rates and atmospheric deposition of ash. However, there is little scientific information available describing the short- and long-term effects of bushfires on aquatic systems, particularly estuaries. This impedes our ability to take proactive management actions.
Aiming to fill this knowledge gap, this project aims to develop the fundamental knowledge of how bushfires alter the sediment characteristics of estuaries and therefore predict its potential to affect the biodiversity and functioning of these systems.