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Winter Seeders - The Patient Ones

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Winter Seeders – The Patient OnesBy Spencer Shaw In summer many seed hit the ground and are putting down roots within a matter of days. Those warm balmy tropical days and nights are perfect for vegetative growth and seeds tend to establish themselves very quickly. Conditions for growth are at their best in spring and summer with the rainforest seed that fall then wasting no time in their race for survival………….. Sorry drifted off for a second there thinking about warm balmy tropical days and nights as I huddle over my keyboard on a cool autumn night!!!.Species like Guioa semiglauca, Harpullia pendula, Pennantia cunninghamii are classic summer seeders, germinating extroverts so to speak. They are the sorts of seed that can’t wait to get out of their s...

Water and seeds

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Fruits, Nuts, Seeds and other things By Spencer Shaw Rain, rain and more rain please!Well that’s what we where all saying just a month or so back and gee its good to have the old ‘gravity challenged’ H2O doing its stuff again.While on the subject of water have you ever pondered its ability to spread seed? Many stream and riverside plants use not only wildlife or wind but also flowing water to disperse their seed. Waterways have many advantages as agents of seed dispersal, the most obvious of course being that they are permanently moist! However we can also add relatively high levels of available nutrients to assist seedling growth, regular disturbance of floods creating ideal germination conditions i.e. River sheoak Casuarina cunnighamiana, leaching of chemicals that in...

When is a rat, not a rat?

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under animals
When is a rat not a rat? Small furry creatures with sharp teeth and claws and evil beady little eyes get a lot of bad press in our culture thanks to the feral rats that have followed the spread of humans across the planet. However, we also have many native rodents and other small furry creatures that are important part of our local ecosystems that are unfortunately tarnished with the bad publicity generated by their jet setting rodent cousins.The local Bush Rat Rattus fuscipes can be found in our local forests and heathlands and is quite cute and timid compared to the imports, although they can still give you a nip when cornered. They feed on native fruits and seeds but are also important spreaders of seed through our local forests. Also found in our area are the amazing Antechinus. ...

A View to Kill For!

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
“A View to Kill For”by Spencer Shaw, of Brush Turkey EnterprisesA few millions years ago on the African plains our early hominid ancestors knew the importance of keeping a look out for the big toothy predators that saw them as a potential breakfast, lunch or tea. Later still, our more recent ancestors knew the importance of a clear view of the surrounding country side when it came to shoring up the fortifications of their village against the marauding bunch of blokes from down the valley. Wether we realise it or not, our appreciation of a good “view” is a deeply ingrained part of our psyche and very much a part of who we are. However there is a dark side to this love of the “view” and it is becoming more and more evident as a cause of environmental degra...

The Much Maligned Brush Turkey

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
The Much Maligned Brush Turkey By Spencer Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises Before you ask… No, we do not breed Brush Turkeys, we do not remove them from your property and we certainly do not provide them steaming hot and crispy with your choice of salad or steamed vegetables! Our link to the brush turkey name, goes back to my early days as a seed collector when I felt like a brush turkey scratching around in the leaf litter of the rainforest looking for seed! You may say that I could do better than taking the name of one of the most unpopular animals on the range as a business name… but I’ve always been a backer of the underdog (under-turkey in this case perhaps!). Brush Turkeys are one of those local species that have adapted rather well, to the changes that we have...

The Wilderness Garden

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Turkey Tangential By Spencer Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises,   The Wilderness Garden   After 12 years in down town Maleny the Shaw’s are about to pull up roots, go rural and move a few kilometres west to Reesville. Surprisingly in moving from town to the country, what we will miss most (for a year or so - until our plantings develop) is the abundant wildlife we share our lives with.   In those 12 years we have packed our small 800m² block with as many native plants as physically possible and reduced the lawn to a few metres square. We have reached a stage where we share our little piece of paradise with an awesome variety of local wildlife.     In the shed tucked up on the rafters on a cool day is our friendly Carpet Python Morelia spilota v...

Wonderful Weeds

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Wonderful Weedsby Spencer Shaw – Brush Turkey Enterprises Our phobia of weeds is something quite extraordinary. If visitors from another planet were to land on our door step tomorrow and study the average garden I’m sure the questions would run something like this: a) Why do you waste so much time cultivating plants that are so inbred that they can survive only with your assistance? b) Why are plants native to anywhere else on the planet other than where you actually live so attractive to you? And finally c) Why do we spend so much time at war with plants that are very successful at proliferating in spite of our attempts to wipe them out.I’ve mentioned in previous articles the possible benefits of the tree weeds such as Camphor to our local wildlife, but today I’d ...

Don't Mess with the Mulch!

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Clean Up Australia – Not in My forest Mate!or “Don’t mess with the mulch” By Spencer ShawI’m writing this article to you  as I hide away in a far-flung corner of one of the Blackall Ranges precious rainforest remnants. My expose on the evils of too much lawn (see previous blogs) has brought the full force of the turf barons down upon me. As I write you this, the CLPA (Central Lawn Protection Agency) and FBT (Federal Bureau of Turf) are combing the forest searching for  the ‘rebel without a mower’. Any way, keeping my head down and laying low in this little forest patch is giving me good chance to re-aquaint myself with the life of the forest floor.  I can tell you - the sooner the tree house is finished the better! There’s a B...

Lazy

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
“Lazy”Turkey TangentialBy Spencer Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises Being a naturally lazy person I don’t like complicated solutions to what should be theoretically the relatively simple process of restoring our native ecosystems. My idea of perfect regeneration is sitting back on the verandah sipping a cup of tea, reading a book and occasionally lifting my gaze from the page to watch native fauna undertake all the work that is necessary to restore the native vegetation on our new block. That’s the dream…..However it’s worth remembering, that when we undertake ecosystem restoration we don’t, shouldn’t and simply can’t act alone – quite humbling for your average egocentric Homo sapien.In late January this year the Brush Turkey cla...

Playing with Poison

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Turkey TangentialPlaying with Poison Spencer Shaw – Brush Turkey EnterprisesI’m sure that from the beginning of time man, in his more deluded moments, has dreamt of controlling the beast that is nature. Our fear of the silent green monster, beyond our tamed backyards, that waits to swallow you up in its verdant leafy arms, if we were to lose control, is a psychosis that many suffer from.  First there was the blade and flame to tame the wild forest and these tools gave man power to shape the landscape. Then in the 20th century herbicides were developed and became widely available. Herbicides are a group of manufactured, synthetic chemicals that either control or kill vegetation. Weeds are plants that humans deem unsuitable for growing in a particular area and are prime tar...

The Cost of Convenience

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
“The Cost of Convenience”Turkey Tangential by Spencer Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises, November 2006. Recently I have been fortunate to reacquaint myself with Bribie Island, through a holiday and work BTE is undertaking in that area. Bribie was my home for my teenage years. Being the ratbag greenie that I was, I found it very easy to leave behind a place that I could see going backward environmentally and rejoiced in arriving in  a place like Maleny, where it could be argued that the damage was already done and that we could only make things better! Almost twenty years away from a place can give one a bit of perspective from which to observe change, but if I can observe environmental degradation over a mere 20 years what hope do the local ecosystems have over much greate...

The Latest Fad - climate change

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
The Latest Fad – Climate ChangeTales from a confused revegetator After attending both the Qld Landcare Weeks “Biodiversity Forum” in Brisbane and the Big Scrub Day near Lismore, one could easily be left with the feeling from some of the speakers that everything we have undertaken so far in the field of ecological restoration is pointless. After all the seas will rise/or fall, temperatures will rise at least that’s what we think, but variables may cause an ice age? And that it will get drier if present trends continue but that it may also get wetter in the long term!Without a doubt climate change is inevitable due to human induced change to the atmosphere, however if this fact causes us to be uncertain about our work in ecological restoration or to even question the...

Rainforest Gardeners

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Rainforest GardenersThe Brush Turkey - Alectura lathami, belongs to an ancient family of birds known as the Megapodes (meaning: “Large feet”). Instead of building a nest like most other birds, the male Brush Turkey builds a giant compost heap by raking a large mound of leaf litter with it’s large feet. These compost mounds create the heat that is necessary to incubate the eggs of these amazing birds. Brush Turkey chicks hatch deep within the mound and may take several days to dig their way to the surface. Once the chicks hatch they are self sufficient and must find their own food and seek shelter from predators like Carpet Pythons, Cats and Birds of Prey. The Brush Turkey is the largest bird of our local rainforests and plays an important role in the spreading of rainfo...

Eating Skippy

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Eating Skippy… by Spencer Shaw The memory of when I stepped off the boat in Fremantle in 1977 as a naïve eight year old Pommy immigrant, and placed my feet for the first time on Australian soil (well concrete anyway) is a strong one for me. The brightness of the sunshine, the dryness of the air are all ingrained in my memory as my first impressions of Australia. Fremantle was a quick stop, before the final leg of our trip on the ship (we were some of the last pom’s to be lucky enough to arrive by boat) to Melbourne. Melbourne was a brief stop of an hour or two (very cold even in November - who’s not surprised?) before we hopped on a train for Adelaide, which was to be our new home. Guess what? We’d been lied to (or were at least seriously gullible) because ...

Going, going, gone

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Going, Going, Gone?By Spencer ShawCan it be possible to have too many plants and animals cluttering up our local environment? South East Queensland is full to the brim with plants and animals (with over three and a half thousand plant species alone). Surely it wouldn’t be too bad to lose just a few of them!Just think plant I.D books would be shorter for starters, the ‘bush’ would look more uniform and less cluttered and we’d need less Botanists because there would be fewer plants to argue about. Also seed collectors would find life a lot easier - without having to chase this or that, rare, endangered or vulnerable plant. After all isn’t evolution about survival of the fittest and if some of these plants can’t cut it in the game of life then why should we...

Invasion of the McPines!

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Turkey Tangential, by Spencer Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises INVASION of the McPINES! My weedy story for today is about a group of trees that are the McDonalds of the weed world. They are big, all look the same, represent large commercial interests, are American in origin and of course have little or no nutritional value! They are a group of weeds that dominate our roadsides, invade heathlands and woodlands, change soil fertility and produce clouds of pollen with potential health risks. They are a group of weeds that I’m ashamed to admit I’d stopped even noticing, because they are so prolific. The trees are, of course, the exotic Pines, primarily Slash Pine (Pinus elliotii) and Pine (Pinus carrabea). The McPines!Their introduction around the middle of the last century by th...

Poison in Paradise or Fruits of Death!

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Seeds
Poison in Paradise or Fruits of Death!Turkey Tangential By Spencer Shaw What a dramatic headline and attention grabbing headline! There’s nothing quite like a bit of fear, to bring out the voyeur within. Given the recent removal of a White Cedar from a park in Maleny, I think however that may be timely to again look at some of our poisonous plants.Over the millennia, plants have evolved various means to stop us greedy herbivores and omnivores getting too carried away and eating them all into oblivion. Some are prickly – such as the tendrils of Lawyer cane Calamus muelleri, some are hairy – such as the fruit of Foam bark Jagera pseudorhus, some are tough – such as the leaves of Wilkea macrophylla and some are … poisonous! Well actually most if not all plants ...

Proteaceae in Paradise

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Seeds
Turkey Tangentialby Spencer Shaw, Brush Turkey Enterprises“Proteaceae in Paradise”Proteus was an ancient Greek sea god who was inclined to get himself into trouble on a regular basis. His special skill however was in his ability to change his shape into many and varied forms to escape from these troubles - probably self inflicted as many of these gods where prone to mischief and mayhem! The family of plants known as Proteaceae are a particularly large and varied bunch but one thing that is common to many of them is the variable nature of their foliage, which can take many varied forms (hence the Greek god connection). Why the connection between Greece and a family of plants that are predominantly found in the southern hemisphere I here you ask? Was it the classical cultural bac...

Carbon Mining

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Posted by lily 795 days ago under Environment
Carbon MiningTurkey TangentialBy Spencer Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises Carbon is the hot topic at present and it’s only likely to get hotter if we keep converting so much of it from a solid into a gas. Of course due to so many of our political leaders being so good at making hot gasses, they’re having problems reducing the Greenhouse effect”!Regardless of wether you believe that global warming is a reality or wether you believe it to be an elaborate hoax (and I’m enough of a conspiracy theorist to question both dogmas) there is one simple truth – the ability of the earth to absorb carbon from the atmosphere and convert it into life, into biodiversity, into the soils that support our crops and livestock is being degraded in a downward spiral that is depleti...

Exotic or native? That's the Question.

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Posted by admin 802 days ago under Environment
Exotic or Native? That’s the Question The Turkey Tangential by Spencer Shaw of Brush Turkey Enterprises   Recently I undertook a covert and highly dangerous mission risking life, limb and sanity to infiltrate a notoriously dangerous event. An event that threatens the very fabric of our society – a garden expo! I have partaken in several preliminary missions as a speaker at several individual garden clubs over the last few years but nothing could prepare me for a full gathering of these local garden clubs (gangs – some may say!) and their agenda to usurp our native Australian flora with just about anything as long as its exotic! Dangerous I hear you say? Surely not those innocent grannies, tending their roses could be the threat you are portraying? Surely Spenc...

Priceless

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Posted by admin 802 days ago under Environment
“Priceless”Turkey Tangentialby Spencer Shaw, Brush Turkey Enterprises For the purposes of this tale, let’s assume humans really are the centre of the universe - as the modern human asserts. Let’s assume everything, everywhere has a value a value judged by wether we can eat it, wear it, build with it and last, but not least, play with it. Given this simple philosophy, all those things named and needed by our culture have a value. These values are measured in cash; this cash is protected by law.  Unfortunately our brains are incredibly two dimensional and we tend to value only those things we call assets. We protect only the assets - not the natural processes that give rise to those assets. Here lies the fatal flaw. For example, if I were to ask you to put a val...

The Frost Factor

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Posted by admin 802 days ago under Environment
The Frost FactorSpencer ShawIts that time of year when those of us who have planted trees over the past year, make our way to our tree planting’s after still and clear nights with a slight sense of dread as to what damage frost may have wreaked upon our young planting’s. Frost can be extremely destructive on a young tree planting if you are not aware of what plants can survive or even be immune to frost damage. Frost damage is at its worse when plants are frozen during the night and then thaw too quickly at sunrise. If nearby trees shade your planting’s first thing in the morning this can provide some frost protection, by allowing them to gently thaw. Even weed trees maybe worth retaining initially on a site for this reason.The key to surviving frosts is using species tha...

Shades of grey

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Posted by admin 802 days ago under Environment
Spencer Shaw – Brush Turkey Enterprises Shades of GreyOne of the greatest lessons I have learnt in the last few years is that nothing is clear cut, there is no black and white (just shades of grey) especially when it comes to all things natural, including weeds. As I have mentioned before there are many good reasons for not touching some weeds – they can provide very cost effective and necessary habitat for our fauna and can achieve the same environmental outcomes as natural ecosystems i.e. water quality improvements, carbon sequestration etc. Whole exotic ecosystems are developing that are species poor but are often the only habitat present in some areas. In many areas of the Blackall Range, SEQ, we can see forests of Camphor, Large-leaved Privet, Chinese elm and Broad-leaved...

The Answer is blowing in the wind?

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Posted by admin 809 days ago under Seeds
The Answer is blowing in the wind?By Spencer Shaw When we discuss seed dispersal you may invariably think of those gaudy members of the flora kingdom who use birds and mammals to spread their seed by covering their seed in a fruit that’s attractive to the animals. It could be said that these plants were the first beings to master the art of advertising. That is to say - the art of making you believe, that you just have to have their fruit no matter how low the food value, because its such a lovely colour. Sure some fruit are relatively nutritious and the lucky bird or possum that’s eaten them can lay back on a warm sunny branch and relax while the digestive processes take place. However most fruit are designed to pass straight through digestive systems as quickly as possible l...

Spreading the Seed

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Posted by admin 809 days ago under Environment
“Spreading the Seed” By Spencer Shaw www.brushturkey.com.au When it comes to trying to grasp the wonders of nature, humans are unfortunate enough to be blessed with an attention span not much greater than that of a small intellectually challenged skink called Fred, who other skinks call rather rude names. We are limited to the view of what is directly in front of us. We are designed to live right here and right now, chasing the next mammoth or foraging for the next berry bush. However this is not the way ecosystems work. They are so much more than what is here and now – they are the present, past and future all rolled into one. The ecosystems that we behold before our attention-deficient eyes are a reflection of all that was before them and also are crucial in what...

Thinking Long term

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Posted by admin 809 days ago under Environment
Thinking long term By Spencer Shaw The human mind is a curious thing when you think about it (especially when you’ve got to use the human mind to think about the human mind, oops I’m getting dizzy). Until recently if you saw something really big you either killed it and ate it or chopped it down and broke it into much smaller bits. Now psychologists could probably analyse this as some deep seated insecurity on our behalf, and it probably is. But I don’t think we can hide from our competitive natures and a classic case of this was the ‘beating of the bush’. Early settlers often stood in awe of the forest giants they met, especially after they cut them down so they could accurately measure them. The bit I don’t think they understood was that once they cut ...

Shadows of Green

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Posted by brushturkey 809 days ago under Environment
By Spencer Shaw, Brush Turkey Enterprises I was fortunate enough recently (although it took some convincing at the time) to be treated to a joy flight in a 60 year old Tiger Moth aeroplane from Caloundra to the Glasshouse mountains. After saying goodbye to my family (the plane was 60 years old!) we gently ascended over a landscape we are often not fortunate enough to view from above. Kinda scary too… and I’m not talking about the fact that I was 1000metres up in the air without a parachute. The forested areas of the coast look somewhat larger when viewed from land, even from the elevated views of the front of the range, but when viewed directly from above you realize just how isolated and fragmented our forests are. Here on the southern end of the Blackall Range plateau it&rs...

Stuck in the understorey

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Posted by brushturkey 810 days ago under Environment
Stuck in the under storey By Spencer Shaw Often it is said that we can’t see the wood for the trees … but I also think that quite often we can’t see the shrubs for the trees.Have you ever noticed those straggly, sparse and some may say spindly( I prefer to say foliage impaired) plants in the shade of that lovely cool forest you’re strolling through. More often than not they are not noticed and this is a great tragedy because there are some fantastic groundcovers and shrubs hidden in the understorey of our local Eucalypt forest and Rainforests.Not all plants ‘suffer’ in the shade, many ferns often look their best when in the humid environment of the forest and we have to simulate these conditions in our gardens to grow them. Shadehouses are a prerequisite for the health of most ferns and o...

Unwanted wildlife

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Posted by brushturkey 810 days ago under Environment
Unwanted Wildlife By Spencer ShawJust recently we have been blessed with the presence of three Brush Turkey chicks Alectura lathami in our rather small town yard in Maleny. “Blessed” I hear you say, “just you wait till they start raking all your well placed mulch and ripping out plants etc. then who’ll be blessed!” Well glutton for punishment that I am I’d still think we’re blessed, even if they did do those things. Fortunately we have never had problems with Brush Turkeys (well there was the incident of when I first grew rainforest seedlings, under some banana trees - but lets not talk about that, I’m nearly out of therapy over that one.) Brush Turkeys are one of those local species that have adapted to the changes that we have wrought on th...

To Weed or not to weed, that is the Question.

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Posted by admin 853 days ago under Home & Living
  A year ago, on the Blackall Range we were treated to the sight of big flocks of Topknot Pigeons Lopholaimus antarcticus cruising around the skies. To witness these big groups of birds can be an inspiring sight for many. However when I mentioned that the large number of Topknot’s also coincided with a particularly good fruiting of the exotic camphor laurel’s Cinnamomum camphora the joy tends to evaporate and is replaced with a look of concern. What a confusing situation! On one hand an inspiring, immense and beautiful flock of native birds. On the other hand we have an insidious, noxious and invasive weed tree. Unfortunately the two are quite firmly entwined in their lifecycles. General consensus is we should be getting rid of all weeds, right? However, if we get rid o...

To Mow or not to mow, that is the question!

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Posted by admin 853 days ago under Home & Living
The year is 100,000 B.P., a cave man by the name of Ug McUg walks forth from his cave in the early morning light and ponders the day ahead of him. He notes with his still rudimentary thought processes that the grass surrounding the cave entrance is long. For the first time in history a curious thought enters his mind – “the grass out there is getting a bit too long, there could be snakes or other wild beasts hiding in it? I know I’ll cut it!” He fashions a rustic scythe from a branch and makes the worlds first lawn, and so begins the fall of man! One of the greatest causes of the ecological disruption we are wreaking in Australia is our obsession with a so-called neat and tidy environment. Our local ecosystems are complex and diverse and can start to fall apart a...

The Maleny Strangler Strikes Again

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Posted by admin 853 days ago under Environment
Deep in the forests of Maleny is lurking a silent killer. The victims are often taken by surprise and their death is slow and drawn out. But don’t worry too much, unless you do a Rip van Winkle and fall asleep for a few decades in the forest, these guys won’t be able to get a grip on you because these stranglers are Figs.  The main ‘strangler figs’ include Ficus watkinsiana Watkins fig, F. macrophylla Morteon bay fig, Ficus obliqua Small-leafed fig and also to a lesser extent Ficus virens White fig, Ficus superba Deciduous fig and Ficus platypoda Rock fig. What a superb evolutionary step these guys have taken in the competition for life in the forest. Whilst all other trees start their life on the forest floor this particular group of trees has figured out...

Sweet Dreams

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Posted by admin 853 days ago under Environment
When the sun goes down at the end of the day, what happens in the forest? Many of us may think as we settle in for the evening that plants will also be taking it easy during the night – the hard day’s work of photosynthesis is over and surely it’s time for them to stand tall and relax! But this often isn’t the case. In the forest things are often just getting started - life for the trees is one big around the clock party! So what is really happening out in the forest at night? Are the animals really the stars of the show? Or are they just bit-players in a much bigger drama? Are the animal’s mere pawns in a game that is being played out by higher life forms- that is to say the Trees (if you’ll pardon the pun)? We know that fruit and nectar eating bir...

RAINFOREST 'SUCCESSION'

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Posted by admin 853 days ago under Environment
The beginning of the long process of succession commences with bare soil, as a result of landslip, fire, storm damage or tree fall. As the forest regenerates the bare soil is quickly covered with young plants, then the process of succession begins as one stage in the vegetation gives way to another. Together, these stages form a succession. PIONEERS - THE FIRST COLONISERS On bare soil and in hot bright sunshine, the seeds which will germinate belong to species of the first stage of succession, the pioneers. In the shade of the surrounding forest, these species do not survive, and their nearest location may be kilometres away. Yet the seeds are there. Either they were already present in the soil, or they have travelled far. A full-grown pioneer plant produces large quantities of small ...

Clean Up Australia – Not in My forest Mate! or “Don’t mess with the mulch”

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Posted by admin 853 days ago under Environment
I’m writing this article to you as I hide away in a far-flung corner of one of the Blackall Ranges precious rainforest remnants. My expose on the evils of too much lawn (see previous newsletter) has brought the full force of the turf barons down upon me. As I write you this, the CLPA (Central Lawn Protection Agency) and FBT (Federal Bureau of Turf) are combing the forest searching for the ‘rebel without a mower’. Any way, keeping my head down and laying low in this little forest patch is giving me good chance to re-aquaint myself with the life of the forest floor. I can tell you - the sooner the tree house is finished the better! There’s a Black Possum or Bobuck Trichosurus caninus who thinks my dried Paw-paw sticks are just irresistible; Common Leaches Chtonobde...

Sweet Dreams

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Posted by admin 853 days ago under Seeds
When the sun goes down at the end of the day, what happens in the forest? Many of us may think as we settle in for the evening that plants will also be taking it easy during the night – the hard day’s work of photosynthesis is over and surely it’s time for them to stand tall and relax!

Water dispersed seeds

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Posted by admin 15377 days ago under Seeds
Rain, rain and more rain please! Well that’s what we where all saying just a month or so back and gee its good to have the old ‘gravity challenged’ H2O doing its stuff again.While on the subject of water have you ever pondered its ability to spread seed?Many stream and riverside plants use not only wildlife or wind but also flowing water to disperse their seed. Waterways have many advantages as agents of seed dispersal, the most obvious of course being that they are permanently moist! However we can also add relatively high levels of available nutrients to assist seedling growth, regular disturbance of floods creating ideal germination conditions i.e. River sheoak Casuarina cunnighamiana, leaching of chemicals that inhibit germination i.e. Water Gum Waterhousea floribunda...
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