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Dr Matthias Boer - Research Fellow
 | School of Plant Biology (M090) telephone +61 8 6488 7194 |
Masters (physical geography), Utrecht University, The Netherlands (1986) |
I joined the Ecosystems Research Group in August 2004 as a research fellow of the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre. Our Bushfire CRC project (B4.2) aims at gaining a better understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of fire-prone landscapes and its implications for management. We work at multiple scales, integrating field-based studies, remote sensing and simulation modelling. Research Interests• Landscape ecology and (eco)hydrology of dryland environments Brief history of previous research positions |
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Current projects1. Multi-scale analysis of patterns in ecological processes in relation to fire regimes (Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, Programme B, Project 4.2). Fire is a key element of many Australian environments – over time it shapes and structures the landscape at multiple scales. The resulting patchiness of vegetation and soil properties affects ecological processes such as the cycling of carbon, nutrients, and water, as well as the propagation of future (fire) disturbances. These feedback mechanisms provide the system with memory, which is a key ingredient for self-organisation towards a robust landscape mosaic. Most research on self-organisation processes in landscape systems has been via modelling studies – far less via observations in real landscapes. In this project we aim at underpinning the concept of self-organising landscape systems by process-pattern measurements and simulation experiments, and at exploring its implications for ecologically sustainable fire management. Fieldwork is conducted in the forested landscapes of SW Western Australia and the arid grassland and shrublands of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. 2. Fire management of complex rehabilitated forests - quantifying and understanding spatial variablilty of forest structure and fuels (Australian Research Council - Linkage Grant) Fire can be a risk to human and ecological values, and its management complicated by landscape fragmentation. Improved management is dependent on understanding factors that determine fore behaviour and its ecological consequences. We will investigate fuel distribution, fire behaviour and vegetation recovery across a complex forest mosaic. Our objective is to understand how fine-scale fuel patterns and vegetation characteristics evolve in rehabilitated eucalypt forest (on a bauxite mine) and how these patterns affect subsequent fire behaviour and impacts. This research will define the way prescribed fire is used to integrate young rehabilitated forest into management of broader landscape and develop cost-effective tools for fire management. Selected publicationsContreras, S., Boer, M.M., Alcalá, F., Domingo, F., García, M., Pulido-Bosch, A. & Puigdefábregas, J. (2008). An ecohydrological modelling approach for assessing long-term recharge rates in semiarid karstic landscapes. Journal of Hydrology 351: 42-57. Boer, M. M. & J. Puigdefábregas (2005). Assessment of dryland condition using remotely sensed anomalies of vegetation index values. International Journal of Remote Sensing 26 (18): 4045-4065. Boer, M. M. & J. Puigdefábregas (2005). Effects of spatially-structured vegetation patterns on hillslope erosion rates in semiarid Mediterranean environments: a simulation study. To appear in Special Issue - Earth Surface Processes and Land Forms 30: 149-167. Boer, M. M. & D.M. Stafford Smith (2003) A plant functional approach to the prediction of change in Australian rangeland vegetation under grazing and fire. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14: 333-344. Domingo, F., Villagarcía, L., Boer, M. M., Alados, L. & J. Puigdefábregas (2001). Evaluating the long-term water balance of arid zone stream bed vegetation using evapotranspiration modelling and hillslope runoff measurements. Journal of Hydrology, 243: 17-30. Boer, M. M. (1999). Assessment of dryland degradation: linking theory and practice through site water balance modelling. Netherlands Geographical Studies 251, KNAG - Utrecht, The Netherlands: 294p. Puigdefábregas, J., Solé-Benet, A., Gutiérrez, L., Del Barrio, G. & M. M. Boer (1999). Scales and processes of water and sediment redistribution in drylands: results from the Rambla Honda field site in Southeast Spain. Earth Science Reviews 48: 39-70. Puigdefábregas, J., Del Barrio, G., Boer, M. M., Gutiérrez, L. & A. Solé (1998). Differential responses of hillslope elements to rainfall events in a semi-arid area. Geomorphology 23: 337-351. Boer, M. M., G. Del Barrio, & J. Puigdefábregas (1996). Mapping soil depth classes in dry Mediterranean areas using terrain attributes derived from a digital elevation model. Geoderma 72: 99-118. Boer, M. M. & E.A. Koster (Eds.) (1992). Greenhouse impact on cold-climate ecosystems and landscapes. Catena Verlag, Cremlingen, Germany. 151p. Boer, M. M., E. A. Koster, & H. Lundberg (1990). Greenhouse impact in Fennoscandia - preliminary findings of a European Workshop on the effects of climate change. Ambio 19: 2-10.
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