DR TINA BELL

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2009 Fulbright Professional Business/Industry (Coral Sea) Scholarship

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“Increasing wildfires and prescribed burning of land generate smoke that can cause considerable damage to agricultural crops. Grapevines, an economically important crop to Australia and the United States, are particularly effected, with substantial loss of sales due to smoke taint of wine”.

Dr Tina Bell, currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, has won the 2009 Fulbright Professional Business/Industry Coral Sea Scholarship. This Fulbright scholarship was established by former U.S. Ambassador Mel Sembler and U.S. companies to recognise the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea and address business and industry issues common to Australia and the U.S.

Dr Bell will use her scholarship to undertake three months research at the Center for Fire Research and Outreach (CFRO) and the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. Her project will explore changes to and recovery of key physiological processes of grapevines exposed to smoke.

“Grapevines are an economically important crop in Australia and the United States,” Dr Bell said.

“Unfortunately, research into the effects of smoke on grapevine physiology is lacking and any information available remains anecdotal. Relatively little is known about the effect of smoke on plant physiology making this project particularly important for improving our understanding of the ‘unseen’ effects of fire.”

“Such information is important for land managers in Australia as although fuel reduction fires may reduce the severity of wildfires, the physiological – and hence, economic impact of smoke produced from managed fires may be greater than that from occasional wildfires.”

“The project will utilise expertise and facilities in the U.S. and applied to Australian ‘conditions’ through novel use of native plant species as fuel.”

Dr Bell is a graduate of the University of Western Australia with Bachelor of Science, Postgraduate Diplomas in Science and Teaching and a PhD in Botany. As a Research Fellow in Fire Ecology with the University of Melbourne she is currently on secondment from the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. Tina was a member of the successful bid group for the Bushfire Cooperative Research Center, funded for $110 million over 7 years, where she continues to be a Project Leader.