David Keith (CES) and collaborator Mark Tozer (OEH) lead a long term ecological experiment on mallee ecosystem dynamics in Tarawi Nature Reserve and adjoining Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary in far southwest New South Wales. The study, which is part of Australia's Long Term Ecological Research Network, aims to elucidate the influence of fire regimes, herbivore populations and climatic variation on ecosystem change. The research is part of an adaptive management strategy for biodiversity conservation that aims to evaluate alternative management options in an experimental framework. A paper describing the design of the study was published in a special issue of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of NSW (Keith & Tozer 2012), along with a series of other research contributions on the Tarawi/Scotia mallee, including work by David Eldridge (UNSW BEES).
