May 2026: New research from Smith Lab honours student Caitlin Gaskell has just been published. Caitlin worked on our fire experiment, which includes plans to burn areas not just once, but multiple times over several years, to see if we can use fire to control weed biomass and reduce wildfire risk. Caitlin wanted to explore whether seedbank reserves after a first fire would be sufficient for native plant regeneration after a second fire in the same place.
After laboriously growing > 20,000 seedlings in the greenhouse, Caitlin assessed the impact of low-intensity prescribed fire on the soil seedbank, relative to the above-ground plant community.
Soil seedbanks were incredibly diverse, holding twice as many species as the above-ground vegetation. For example, if we found 11 species per square metre at one location, there would be an average of 27 species underground in the soil seedbank. This high biodiversity was not affected by fire, meaning that seedbanks hold a rich reservoir of biodiversity for post-fire regeneration. A second fire in the near term is unlikely to negatively impact biodiversity. This has given us confidence to continue our cool, low-intensity burning regime which aims to minimise weed biomass, while supporting native plant species. Well done Caitlin!
After laboriously growing > 20,000 seedlings in the greenhouse, Caitlin assessed the impact of low-intensity prescribed fire on the soil seedbank, relative to the above-ground plant community.
Soil seedbanks were incredibly diverse, holding twice as many species as the above-ground vegetation. For example, if we found 11 species per square metre at one location, there would be an average of 27 species underground in the soil seedbank. This high biodiversity was not affected by fire, meaning that seedbanks hold a rich reservoir of biodiversity for post-fire regeneration. A second fire in the near term is unlikely to negatively impact biodiversity. This has given us confidence to continue our cool, low-intensity burning regime which aims to minimise weed biomass, while supporting native plant species. Well done Caitlin!
Gaskell C, Campbell SD, Wolff D, Lebbink G, Smith AL (2026). Diverse soil seedbanks are resilient to reintroducing low-intensity fire in a subtropical grassy woodland. Journal of Applied Ecology 63, e70409.
A Plain Language Summary is also available on The Applied Ecologist blog.
A Plain Language Summary is also available on The Applied Ecologist blog.