Download Bushfire and our Environment

Bushfire
and our
Environment
Fire has been a major influence in shaping
the Australian environment.
•
Trees and shrubs that resprout
from underground lignotubers and
epicormic shoots, such as eucalypts,
banksias and teatrees.
•
The inland seas and rainforests have
dried up, and the dry climate experts
have thrived, evolving into the array of
eucalypts, wattles and heath species that
are so familiar to us today.
Plants that flower after fire, such as
Christmas bells, ground orchids and
grass trees.
•
Trees, shrubs and herbs that have hard
seeds that germinate after fire, such as
Acacias and pea flowers.
Plants
Animals
Australian plants have evolved with
drought and fire. Other than a few of the
cold (alpine) and wet (rainforest) plant
communities, our flora is largely dependent
on fire for its long-term survival.
Our animals are dependent on the plant
communities they live in, and must adapt
to fire, too.
Over millions of years, the continent has
moved northwards and progressively
dried out.
Burn too often, and the colourful
wildflowers that we enjoy in Spring, give
way to the faster growing grasses. Exclude
fire for too long and we lose the variety in
the shrub layer, which often develops into
dense thickets of a single species.
Next time you are in the bush, look
carefully at the plants around you and
see if you can work out how they have
adapted to a fire-prone environment.
Adaptations to fire:
•
Plants that have heavy, thick protective
pods or capsules release their seed
after fire, such as banksias and eucalypts.
An ecosystem may look as though it has
recovered after a fire, with the trees and
shrubs covered in fresh new growth, and
wildflowers in profusion, but have the
animals returned?
You may see many of the larger marsupials
such as kangaroos and wallabies eating
the fresh new grass.
However, small animals that live on the
ground, such as skinks, snakes and marsupial
mice (Antechinus sp.) need enough leaf litter
to hide and forage for food.
The larger predators including owls
and hawks need habitat supporting the
ground-dwelling animals they feed on, and
large trees with hollows to nest in.
Environment
& Waste
Our animals
are dependent
on the plant
communities
they live in, and
must adapt to
fire, too...