Elle Bowd

Dr. Elle Bowd is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University. She is an ecologist specializing in plant and fungal ecology in Australian eucalypt forests and woodlands, with a particular focus on above and below-ground interactions and ecosystem responses to disturbance.

Dr. Bowd's research spans several key areas:

• Understanding how ecosystems respond to wildfire and logging in forests and the pathways that generate ecological change
• Plant and fungal ecology in Australian eucalypt forests and woodlands in NSW and Victoria
• Cross-cultural projects partnering with First Nations Peoples to support the re-emergence of Indigenous-led cultural burning
• Creating interfaces between First Nations knowledge and management and Western science

Her recent publications demonstrate significant contributions to fire ecology, forest regeneration, and cultural burning practices. Her work often involves long-term empirical studies and landscape-scale data analysis, with highly cited papers on fire and logging impacts on forest ecosystems. She has published 35 research outputs with over 566 citations and an h-index of 12.

Dr. Bowd is actively involved in several significant research projects:

• 'Re-emergence of First Nations burning in contemporary grassy woodlands' (2024-2028) as Co-Investigator
• 'Bushfire risk-reduction through cultural burning in travelling stock routes' (2022-2024) as Principal Investigator
• Multiple projects on soil ecology and forest recovery after disturbance

Her work has important implications for forest management policy, particularly regarding cultural burning integration and ecosystem recovery following major disturbances in the context of climate change.