Burak Pekin - PhD Student

School of Plant Biology (M090)
University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway
Crawley  WA  6009
AUSTRALIA

telephone     +61 8 6488 7914
fax               +61 8 6488 7925
email            pekinb01@student.uwa.edu.au

BSc Plant Biology - University of California, Davis (2003)
 

I am interested in the effects of disturbance, climate, and geology on the distribution of both flora and fauna across natural environments. Understanding the role of biological diversity in Mediterranean ecosystems is of special interest to me because of the large scale disturbances, both natural and human induced, which threaten the high natural diversity found in these habitats. I am also interested in how species contribute to function and stability in forest ecosystems with relevance to environmental and climatic changes such as global warming.
 

PhD Thesis:  Productivity and diversity patterns in relation to fire history in the southern jarrah forest of Western Australia.

Supervisors: Dr Pauline Grierson (UWA), Dr Craig Macfarlane (UWA), Dr Matthias Boer (UWA), Dr Roy Wittkuhn (DEC), Dr Lachlan McCaw (DEC)
Funding:  Bushfire CRC, Australian Greenhouse Office
Commenced: February 2006

My research is conducted along with the Walpole Fire Mosaic study in the southern jarrah forest of Western Australia and involves the use of field observation, remote sensing, and chemical analysis techniques. I am studying the relationships between biodiversity, in terms of floral species composition/ functionality, and ecosystem productivity with varying fire disturbance history within jarrah forest communities.

My objective is to use multivariate analysis to model forest productivity and the distributions of species across the landscape. And secondly to explain the variation in both these factors through the underlying physical and chemical soil properties, climate, and fire disturbance history in order to achieve a better understanding of the role of disturbance and other environmental stresses in the sustainability of the jarrah forest.

Presentations

Pekin B., Boer M., Macfarlane C., Wittkuhn R., McCaw L., and Grierson P.F. 2007 Fire history and stand structure within the jarrah forest of south-western Australia. The 11th International Mediterranean Ecosystems Conference September 2007, Perth, Western Australia. Oral presentation.

Pekin B., Boer M., Macfarlane C. Wittkuhn R., McCaw L., Grierson P.F. 2007 Fire history and productivity of the jarrah forests of south-western Australia, poster presentation. 4th International Wildfire Conference May 2007, Seville, Spain . Poster presentation.

Useful Links

Bushfire CRC
Biodiversity Hotspots 
National Geographic