Fire is both friend and foe for Australia's wildflowers
Many of Australia's floral species have evolved over millions of years alongside fire, but are bushfires becoming too frequent for some flowers to survive?
Australia's wildflowers have a complex relationship with fire. On one hand, fire can help some species reproduce by triggering the release of seeds or encouraging growth. On the other hand, intense or frequent fires can harm or even kill plants. Ecologist Mark Brundrett is studying 17 different orchid species in Perth's Warwick Bushland and has found that some orchids need fire to reproduce, while others are harmed by fire when they want to develop a large colony.
The red beak orchid, for example, has large tubers that allow it to survive between fires, but if it hasn't had a fire in a long time, it may be the same individual orchid that is thousands of years old. In contrast, other orchids are more tolerant of fire and some even benefit from it by flowering more. However, the overall trend is that more species are harmed by fire than benefit from it.
Scientists are concerned about the changing fire regimes due to climate change, as this can put pressure on flora species with restricted distributions. Plants like the Christmas Bell and alpine ash, which rely on fire for regeneration, need time to grow or reproduce after a fire. Without proper fire management, these plants may not be able to regenerate after frequent fires.
The Australian government is investing $800 million in the recovery of threatened species and ecological communities, including managing fire regimes and building species resilience.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
