Haijing SHI
PhD Student
Telephone: +61 2 6268 8214
Fax: +61 2 6268 8017
Email: h.shi@student.adfa.edu.au
Location: PEMS Nth, Room 304
Field of Study - Biogeography
Joint Supervisors: Prof. Brian Lees, Dr David Paull
Research Topic -Thermal properties of alpine boulder field habitats: The potential to provide refugia for the hibernation of the Mountain Pygmy-possum (B. parvus)
My research focuses on a study of the microclimate and thermal properties of a range of the boulderfield habitats that support the endangered Mountain Pygmy-possum. Boulderfield sites across the range of Mountain pygmy-possum distribution will be monitored. The data loggers will be positioned in various areas of the habitat to collect thermal data from below the boulders at standardized depths, and one to be positioned above the general area of habitat to monitor air temperature. A camera recorder placed at each site will record the presence and depth of snow. This study proposes to investigate: (1) the thermal properties of boulderfield habitats in relation to aspect, elevation and snow cover that support the endangered Mountain Pygmy-possum; (2) the snow cover and snow duration, to what extent, bring thermal stress to Mountain Pygmy-possum and (3) predicting range shifts in Mountain Pygmy-possum distributions and identification of refugia with ongoing climate change.
Haijing Shi presented a poster at the 2010 Annual ESA (Ecological Society of Australia) Conference and won the Wiley-Blackwell/EMR student prize for her poster on management or restoration.