Doctor Assaf Inbar
I am an ecosystem modeller interested in the interactions and feedbacks within natural systems and how these respond to and interact with changes in climate and fire. I came to HIE after a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (in Ecohydrology) at the University of Melbourne where I developed a model that can be used to predict the effect of the changing climate on carbon, water and fire regimes on tall-wet sclerophyll forests in Victoria and on Melbourne’s water supply in particular.
I hold a B.Sc. in biology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an M.Sc. in Environmental and Soil Science from Tel Aviv University. I did my Ph.D. at the University of Melbourne, where I combined spatial analysis, fieldwork, and developed a new numerical model to study the role of climate and fire on the coevolution of the Critical Zone (defined as the preamble layer between bedrock to treetop that covers the land surface). I then used the model to show that asymmetric hillslopes in South-eastern Australia might have resulted from eco-hydro-geomorphic feedback between microclimate, forests, soils and fire.
I currently work with Professor Belinda Medlyn’s group on her Laureate project aimed to develop a community Dynamic Vegetation Model for Australia. I am interested in combining data and different modelling approaches to answer fundamental and applied questions regarding vegetation dynamics, Critical Zone structure and function and the feedbacks between vegetation, soils, climate and fire at different spatial and temporal scales.
Bushfire Research
Our research also includes the role of fire and its effects on global change. Please see here (opens in a new window) for further details on our bushfire research.
Awards
- 2020 - Albert Shimmins Research Continuity Grant – Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne
- 2016 – Study Away Travel Grant - Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne
- 2010 - COST Action - Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) - Forest Management and the Water Cycle
- 2009 - Smaller-Winnikow fellowship for excellence in environmental research
Selected publications
Benyon RG, Inbar A, Sheridan GJ, Lane PNJ, (2023) 'Critical climate thresholds for fire in wet, temperate forests', Forest Ecology and Management, vol.537, Article no.120911
Benyon RG, Inbar A, Sheridan GJ, Lyell CS, Lane PNJ, 92023) 'Variable self-thinning explains hydrological responses to stand replacement in even-aged forests', Journal of Hydrology, vol.618, Article no.129157
Brown TP, Inbar A, Duff TJ, Lane PNJ, Sheridan GJ, (2022) 'The Sensitivity of Fuel Moisture to Forest Structure Effects on Microclimate', Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, vol.316, Article no.108857
Dhargay S, Lyell CS, Brown TP, Inbar A, Sheridan GJ, Lane PNJ, (2022) 'Performance of GEDI Space-Borne LiDAR for Quantifying Structural Variation in the Temperate Forests of South-Eastern Australia', Remote Sensing, vol.14, no.15, Article no.3615
Inbar A, Trouvé R, Benyon RG, Lane PNJ, Sheridan GJ, (2022) 'Long-term hydrological response emerges from forest self-thinning behaviour and tree sapwood allometry', Science of the Total Environment, vol.852, Article no.158410
Brown, Tegan P, Inbar A, Duff TJ, Burton J, Noske PJ, Lane PNJ, Sheridan GJ, (2021) 'Forest Structure Drives Fuel Moisture Response across Alternative Forest States', Fire, vol.4, no.3, p 48
Inbar A, Nyman P, Lane PNJ, Sheridan GJ, (2020) 'The Role of Fire in the Coevolution of Soils and Temperate Forests', Water Resources Research, vol.56, no.8, Article no.e2019WR026005
Inbar A, Nyman P, Rengers FK, Lane PNJ, Sheridan GJ, (2018) 'Climate Dictates Magnitude of Asymmetry in Soil Depth and Hillslope Gradient', Geophysical Research Letters, vol.45, no.13, pp :6514–6522
Nyman P, Metzen D, Hawthorne SND, Duff TJ, Inbar A, Lane PNJ, Sheridan GJ, (2017) 'Evaluating Models of Shortwave Radiation below Eucalyptus Canopies in SE Australia', Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, vol.246, pp 51–63
Inbar A, Ben-Hur M, Sternberg M, Lado M, (2015) 'Using Polyacrylamide to Mitigate Post-Fire Soil Erosion', Geoderma, vol.239, pp 107–114
Inbar A, Lado M, Sternberg M, Tenau H, Ben-Hur M, (2014) 'Forest Fire Effects on Soil Chemical and Physicochemical Properties, Infiltration, Runoff, and Erosion in a Semiarid Mediterranean Region', Geoderma, vol.s 221–222, pp 131–38
