Creswick campus facilities
Located in a forest setting with heritage-listed buildings, the Creswick Campus has been a centre for Forest Science and research since 1910.
Build understanding and innovate with world-class experts and equipment.
University of Melbourne students, staff and partners enjoy access to advanced R&D facilities, expert advice, and technical support. We welcome R&D partnerships or fee-for-service contracts with businesses, governments, communities, and research organisations. Our network of collaborative relationships spans the globe.
To discuss your research and innovation needs, connect with the research group under the relevant facility below. For more information about our Creswick campus, including how to get there, visit Creswick campus on the Faculty of Science website.
Integrated forest ecosystem research
Creswick campus is an ideal base for field experiments examining fire behaviour, ecology, and biodiversity, with close access to research plots in the Wombat Forest, Otway Ranges, and throughout western Victoria. Our long-term investigations include a large-scale, controlled burn experiment dating from the 1980s, and measurement of carbon and water fluxes since 2010.
Contact: Integrated Forest Ecosystem Research (iFER)
Flux towers
As part of the OzFlux monitoring network and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network we operate several research sites (towers) in forests and agricultural settings that automatically and continuously measure exchanges (or 'fluxes') of carbon dioxide, water and energy between ecosystems and the atmosphere. The towers simultaneously measure solar radiation, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture, to improve understanding of how these variables affect fluxes on daily, seasonal, and multi-year time scales. As these fluxes are an aggregate measure of ecosystem function, we develop a broad picture of ecosystem response to climate variability.
Contact: Ecophysiology and Flux
Greenhouse gas measurements
We have systems that continuously monitor soil greenhouse gas exchange in a range of ecosystems. These include manual and automated soil chambers, which can be linked to a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer or a fast greenhouse gas analyser, as well as manual chambers that measure the exchange of methane between tree trunks and the atmosphere.
Contact: Ecophysiology and Flux
FLARE Wildfire laboratory
The FLARE lab is purpose-built with a wide range of novel experimental apparatuses and equipment for pioneering research in ecology, wildfire, and fire safety, including:
- ignitability and combustion of fuels and their influence on fire spread and intensity,
- wildfire behaviour, including transitions at wildland-urban interfaces, and
- fire performance of structural materials.
Contact: FLARE Wildfire Research
Soil and plant studies
We have glasshouse and laboratory facilities for:
- soil and plant sample preparation, grinding, sieving and digestion
- measuring total carbon and nitrogen with LECO instrumentation
- nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate flow analysis, and
- organic matter estimation using an infrared spectrometer (MIRS).
Our Physical Containment level 2 (PC2) glasshouse is equipped to run carbon dioxide enrichment experiments to plant sapling stage.
Contact: Wana
Forest molecular biology and genetics
With space for up to 16 people, our laboratory supports molecular, biochemical and tissue culture investigations of forest biology and genetics, including polymerase chain reaction, electrophoresis, and gel imaging. Our equipment includes spectrometers, centrifuges, incubators, balances, laminar flow cabinets, fume hoods, fridge and freezers, growth chambers and integrated glasshouse facilities.
Contact: Antanas Spokevicius
Animal ecology
We have an extensive catalogue of equipment for laboratory and field studies, including camera traps, cage traps, and high-powered microscopes.
Contact: Fire Ecology and Biodiversity