h3. Burning questions
h4. Report by David Thompson.
Marc Bellette researcher from University of Melbourne School of Social & Environmental Enquiry attracted a sizable audience to his presentation of Fire Ecology in the heathy woodlands, Grampians National Park”. Marc is a PhD student studying grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) and has been associated with Professor Neal Enright’s longitudinal study of plant communities reaction to fires. The presentation summarized the results of 40 annual field trips to Mount Zero by university students and staff studying the ecological effects of fire interval on species diversity and composition.
The study shows an increase in biodiversity following fire. This increase in biodiversity can be attributed to factors of seed drop, germination enhancement, increased nutrition, opening of the canopy and individual species specific response to fire. However there was no comparison to climax or senescing communities to determine the long term impact of fire over the lifetime of their longest lived species. The full report is available by email request to Sylvia.
While there is unequivocal evidence that some species depend on fire to persist in the area, the biodiversity is not a simple relationship between fire frequency and environmental health. For instance Marc’s study of Xanthorrhoea suggests that their response to fire is a fortuitous alignment of their evolutionary history of propagation rather than an adapted response to fire. To paraphrase that intellectual giant Donald Rumsfeld “The more we know the more we know we don’t know.”
Given the social and political pressure to burn greater areas of our park more often, it is imperative that the consequences of the burning regime be placed under scrutiny and not couched in terms of ecological benefit. There can be no justification of burning as an ecological necessity without the comprehensive scientific surveys, before and after burning and long term monitoring. The current fuel reduction burning doesn’t satisfy scientific rigour, a deficiency I believe we will regret in the future.
I congratulate Melbourne University on their commitment to this long-term study. It adds to greater understanding of our environment and indicates the great complexity and dynamism of nature. Good science is indispensable to proper conservation strategies.