Dr. Tina Bell – Newsletter Editor and Council Member

Dr Tina Bell is a Senior Lecturer in Fire Ecology in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Sydney. She obtained her BSc and PhD from the Department of Botany at the University of Western Australia. She has researched the ecophysiology of native plants including species from the families Epacridaceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, Restionaceae and Poaceae for many years.

Since her move to Eastern Australia in 2002, firstly to the University of Melbourne, and then to the University of Sydney, Tina has added fire ecology of Australian native plants to her agenda. She currently researches the effect of fire on plants, fungi and soil and their roles in ecosystem processes. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2009 which took her to the University of California Berkeley for three months to research the effects of fire on wine grapevine physiology. Tina supervises a number of local and international postgraduate students who are working in areas of NSW and Victoria.

Tina was awarded an Australian Flora Foundation research grant in 2006 and is the newest member of the AFF Council, having been appointed in May 2011.