Climate change, the sudden shift in a statistical pattern in weather, can be caused by a number of other phenomena. As a result, climate change can also be the cause of a number of unwanted occurrences. Perhaps one of the most troubling disasters caused by climate change is the increasing frequency of forest fires.
In the case of Australia's southern area, the occurrence of rainfall has dropped and temperatures have increased, making the area highly susceptible to forest fires. These uncontrolled fires gobble up whatever can fuel it. For forest fires, it's trees that are being caught in the fire. Other wildfires experienced in the Australian terrain include bush fires, hill fires, and grass fires.
The new patterns of weather have caused forests all over Australia to start changing. Murdoch University ecologist, Dr. Joe Fontaine, has pointed out direct and indirect ways on how the forest is somewhat being forced to change and adapt to the rapid change in climate. The ecologist has explained that direct impacts include dying trees because of heat and drought. The indirect impacts, on the other hand, are sampled by more fires and lower seed production. Fontaine has also explained how leaves adapt to the heat, depending on the moisture reserves the plant has. However, with forest fires and drought happening left and right, moisture reserves of the vegetation are depleting.
In one of Fontaine's studies, a large shrub species native to the south-western part of Australia, the Hooker's Banksia, has been producing seeds half of its optimum rate for the past 30 years. He has also pointed out that the shrub species was supposed to be bouncing back after it was hit by fire a few years back but that was not the case. This puts the species in danger of being wiped off the map by a bush fire. Other plants are also wilting away and dying in the area.
As climate change rears in, it brings with it drought or fire prompting a struggle among different species to cope, called an "interval squeeze" where it is especially harder to adapt when the time between these direct impacts get shorter.
To battle this, provenance planting is being carried out by different groups. This method of revegetation is done by gathering and using seeds from local areas to propagate. Using climate projection tools, Landcare Australia and Bush Heritage Australia have determined which plant species can adapt better during an interval squeeze for decades to come.
Landcare Australia chief executive, Dr. Shane Norrish, emphasized that with climate change, there will be a challenge in their revegetation efforts even as the "climate-ready" approach.
