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  • Jarrad McKercher

    Jarrad McKercher

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  • ORCiD profile
    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1416-5677
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  • LinkedIn profile
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrad-mckercher-124127215
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Jarrad McKercher

Overview of thesis

Wildfires are a natural phenomenon that impact the environment and are a result of natural and anthropogenic causes. Anthropogenically caused climate change is influencing the frequency and severity of wildfires in Australia. Burn severity is used to describe the impact of a fire on the environment and is influenced by environmental and meteorological factors. The Wooroloo bushfire in February 2021, burnt through 11,000 ha of regional parkland and private property, displaying varying degrees of burn severity throughout the burn scar. The aim of this research is to identify and measure the factors that influenced the severity of the Wooroloo bushfire and determine whether the fire was temporally unique compared to previous fires in the Northern Jarrah Forest region. This research will analyse the severity of the bushfire using three different spectral indices and an infield measurement, testing the accuracy of each index to determine the most accurate spectral index. A geospatial analysis of environmental and meteorological factors that contributed to the burn severity will be undertaken to determine factors that influence each level of burn severity. The Wooroloo fire will then be compared temporally to historical wildfires that occurred in the Northern Jarrah Forest over the past 25 years, to determine if there has been a change in burn severity. Historical fires with differences in burn severity will then be analysed to determine the factors that influence each level of burn severity have changed over time and whether this can be related to climate change.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science Environmental Management (2018 – 2021)
  • Pesticide skill Set (Level 3) (2020 – Current)
  • First Aid (2020 – Current)
  • Snake Awareness, Management and Safe Catching Techniques (2020)
  • Maintain and Operate Chainsaws (2018)
  • Recreational Skippers Ticket (2019)

Research

Research Interests

  • Fire Ecology
  • Fire Management
  • GIS
  • Forest Regeneration

Other work

  • (2020 – Current) Natural Area Consulting Management

Supervisors

Contact

Jarrad McKercher
Master of Science by Research
School of Science
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