Effects of rainfall event characteristics and vegetation regeneration on post-fire hillslope erosion

This research examined the complex interactions of climate, rainfall, vegetation, terrain and soil factors, and consequent hillslope erosion processes under intermediate (nominally five to seven years) post-fire conditions, through a case study of a hillslope in the Licola region, southeast Australia that was severely burnt in the 2006/7 Great Divide Fires. Fieldwork and laboratory research found that different hillslope patches responded variably to rainfall inputs and their modification by the vegetation canopy. The distinctive shape of post-fire juvenile Eucalyptus leaves generated a unique size-range of erosive drops. Theoretical and conceptual contributions to post-fire erosion science were also made.