Associate ProfessorSusanna Venn

My research aims to understand alpine vegetation patterns and processes, and how these drive the ecological functioning of alpine ecosystems.

I use manipulative field and laboratory-based studies, in combination with long-term monitoring of alpine vegetation, to investigate how the key environmental drivers in alpine ecosystems effect vegetation patterns and processes of change. I work closely with land-managers and researchers across global mountain networks to conduct my research. Recent and outstanding contributions include: leading paradigm-shifting thinking about how Australian alpine ecosystems will function without snow in coming decades; understanding plant regeneration processes (seed germination strategies and seedling growth and development) to determine the mechanisms of vegetation change or stability; the role of alpine shrubs as ecosystem engineers; and establishing new techniques for understanding how alpine plants will cope with reduced snowpack and exposure to heat, frost and drought.   

Having conducted my PhD research (2003-2007) on alpine plant recruitment processes, this remains a principal area of interest. I have attracted over $4.69M in competative grants since 2010. I have also held continuous Australian Research Council (ARC) funding on various projects since 2014 (DECRA, Linkage x 2, Discovery, LEIF and Industry Fellowship) as well as external funding from industry, government and philanthropic sources (notably the Hermon Slade Foundation, 2021-2024, to undertake the project ‘High and Dry: Understanding plant water stress’).

My postdoctoral work (ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, 2014-2018 part-time “Snow, shrub and climate feedbacks: impacts of shrub expansion in the Australian alpine zone”) focused on investigating the interactions between alpine and Arctic shrubs with snow-drifting patterns, and how these effects might promote further shrub expansion, asking the question; Are shrubs engineering their environment?

Together with industry partners and universities from acorss VIC, TAS, ACT and NSW, we used and ARC 2018 Linkage Equipment Infrastructre Facility grant to build the Australian Mountain Research Facility. This facility has been instrumental in providing the in-situ experimental infrastructre for several on-going projects.       

I developed research interests with my industry partners at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Parks Victoria, Mount Hotham Alpine Resort and (the previously named) Southern Alpine Resorts Management Board. Together we developed and undertook an ARC Linkage Project ‘Building resilient alpine environments with less snow’ (2021-2026), to investigate how the environmental parameters that are changing with global warming are likely to affect the alpine environment as a whole and how this can inform land management operations in National Parks and Alpine Resorts.

As of March 2026, my ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellowship, ‘Combining snow science and seed ecology to better manage alpine ecosystems’ in partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Parks Victoria and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, will investigate how ongoing declines in snow affect the growth, development and regeneration of alpine plants. This project will fill an important knowledge gap about how a contraction of the snow season affects spring flowering, seed development, germination, seedling growth and seedling survival through summer.

Knowledge Areas:

• Alpine vegetation responses to warming and drying 
• Recruitment and regeneration strategies of alpine plants
• Alpine shrubs as ecosystem engineers
• Thermal tolerance in alpine plants