Hughmac wrote:There's no simple answer to this question. Different communities of plants will recover at different rates, while some will change substantially from their previous composition. Left to their own devices most Eucalypt forests in SE Australia would generally be expected to reach their mature state after 20 to 50 years, however most of these forests experience fire at much shorter intervals than this now due to prescribed burning. Rainforest environments burnt in the recent fires are likely never to recover, but to be replaced by pyrophillic species such as Eucalypts. One thing you will see are substantial populations of Acacia species regenerating quickly following the fires - a trip to Yerranderie at present would be a good example. They are a classic pioneer genus in these forests, that respond quickly to fire in huge numbers. They are soil nitrogen fixing plants that generally have relatively short (5-20 year) life spans, before giving way to Eucalypts. As I mentioned before though, the increased fire frequency in these forests is interfering with this cycle. And as Moondog observed, climate change is also going to affect the recovery/evolution of these forests.
crollsurf wrote:
What isn’t normal is the dumb, one size fits all approach to prescribed burning. It’s been shown in some environments, regular fires create greater fuel loads, not less. Ecologies where plants take 15-50 years to fully regenerate, will be wiped out due to political expediency taking precedence over scientific knowledge.
FatCanyoner wrote:If extreme weather continues to become more frequent, with longer hot, dry spells in summer, we will see a radical loss of vegetation. Many ridgetops will transition from open forest to low scrub as the trees die off. That process has certainly started in my local area.
Hughmac wrote:Hi FC. I live at Moss Vale, and the same impacts of the drought are evident in the Highlands. Mount Gibraltar (The Gib as it is known locally) is home to an endangered ecological community, and now looks like it is recovering from a bushfire, however there was no fire there. Viewed from below it is covered in the bare branches of dead trees. The impacts are less apparent at lower elevations, but obvious if you are paying enough attention. And as I noted above, many of the Gondwandan rainforests destroyed by the fires will never recover. It is incredibly depressing that we have been warned about the impacts of climate change for at least four decades now, but are still yet to take meaningful action to address it. The environments we know and love will in many cases soon be unrecognisable to us, purely the result of human greed and stupidity.
Hughmac wrote:Increased knowledge has been accompanied by increased greed and ignorance. .
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