Climate Change
Well, who knows what the weather will be like when you are reading this, but at the end of July it looks like spring is well and truly upon us. Trees and shrubs are covered in new growth, the grass is starting to green up, birds are starting to collect nest material and down at our dam the cane toads are calling…
If this weather keeps up, it looks like spring is off to a very early start – a little too early perhaps. Regardless of your opinion about the climate change debate, if there is one certain thing about climate change, it’s that the climate does change. The weather doesn’t really care whether you do or do not believe in climate change (it’s rather presumptuous that we regard belief as even being a factor – but then again that’s humans for you!). The weather will do, what the weather will do – it’s simple.
The native ecosystems of the range are a text that can tell us about the variability of our climate, if only we can read them. It’s not just soil type that influences plant growth, climate is a major factor. For example, prolonged dry periods can lead to a drop in soil moisture and the water table. We have rainforest communities on the range, such as Kondalilla Falls National Park, Triunia National Park and the High Tor Conservation Park that are full of rare and unusual dry rainforest plants that have the ability to survive during dry periods. Decade after decade of wet weather could see these forests change to a forest type more reminiscent of Mary Cairncross; however these parks contain species that can tolerate periodic dry spells that might only occur a decade or even century apart.
Variation in climate has a direct effect on the dominance of certain individual plants and plant communities. Variation in climate effects the germination of plants and also the growth of both juvenile and mature species. During the last ice age 10,000 years ago the local climate was much drier and cooler. The fossil record suggests that there was less rainforest on the Range and the area was dominated by windswept grassland and open eucalypt forest. It is suggested that it was only in the more moist south facing gullies and slopes that the rainforests held on.
What does all of this have to with me, I hear you ask? Well not much really … other than give some thought to what you are planting in your revegetation patch. The rainforests of the Range are not a homogenous entity with the same old trees and shrubs, in every remnant. We should give thought to what we are planting and where, so that we maintain ecological integrity and establish vegetation that can survive the variability of our climate.