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| a massive fire burns uncontrolled on all fronts in the Adelaide Hills after an afternoon wind change |
Fire germinated plants have adapted to fire, not intelligently designed bushfire. Bushfire is not like a beaver's dam, or an anthill. Animals derive no evolutionary benefit from being regularly burnt alive in large numbers, they merely adapt to its challenges. The rapid wholesale destruction of a bushfire is in fact intense disorder, like an asteroid strike. It is nature turned inside out, like the acid of a giant stomach belched up to consume everything improperly.
In a 1991 study, scientists studying fire germinating plants discovered that,
"Duration of heating was less important than temperature as a determinant of germination. Ordination techniques revealed that results from one duration across temperatures were comparable with data from multiple durations. This has significant applications in studying rare species, where seed may be in short supply."
Plants do not need to be cooked for a period of time to sprout. They merely react to a particular temperature for any period of time. Plants also respond to smoke, smoke coming out of a conventional chimney at about 160-200 degrees celsius. What this means is that there is no special character of the fire germinated seed that needs fire and smoke. The fire germinating plant merely takes fire as a signal to trigger its existing skill to reproduce. Yes the plant is more successful at germinating when fire has passed through because there is generally more space to grow in, as older plants are burnt out, and plenty of 'fertiliser' is on the ground in the form of ash. Yet the prime reality is the parent plant may be in mortal stress, that is set to die, hence the need to bear young.
Ash is decent fertiliser, but mulch from unburnt material is vastly superior. Mulch layers enrich soils and stimulate plant abundance. Unburnt mulch layers support greater life systems and more diversity than any burnt, drier systems. Any Australian who has seen the effects of a lot of bushfires will know just how horrific and undesirable fires are for native animals. In short the idea that fire is a natural system designed and politically maintained by the natural ecosystems that endure and adapt to it is completely false.
So natural systems are thrown into systems of preparedness, that are separate to the skills required for their biological needs. Even though fire germinating plants don't need fire to produce a seed that could grow, they adapt to temperatures associated with fire as a signal of when to grow. We should not interpret all things that occur to nature, even those without mankind's interferences, as inevitable and natural. With this in mind, we should not class what may be classed as disorder and disease, such as bushfire and starvation events as inevitable parts of nature. Natural evolution has rights to credentials which are independent from arbitrary disorder and disease. Credentials which are the preservation of life on Earth, the opposite of calamity to life on this planet.
originally sourced from a story on
Adelaide Hills Bushfires, ABC NEWS
also sourced from,
AULD, T. D. and O'CONNELL, M. A. (1991), Predicting patterns of post-fire germination in 35 eastern Australian
Fabaceae. Australian Journal of Ecology, 16: 53–70. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1991.tb01481.x
Kitsteiner, J (2013), Permaculture Projects: Chop and Drop Mulching, temperate climate Permaculture. http://tcpermaculture.com/site/2013/11/15/permaculture-projects-chop-and-drop-mulching/
Lawton, G (2014), Desert Oasis : From Desert to Oasis in Four Years. " Surviving the Coming Crisis." geofflawton.com http://www.geofflawton.com/fe/62176-desert-oasis.
Frew, W (7/01/2015) BBC News " South Australia Fires: 'Hundreds' of animals dead. " http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30706391
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