Sunday, Feb 16, 2020 at 10:14
Peter, the largest percentage of
Kangaroo Island vegetation is Mallee, and Mallees are distinguished by a lignotuber that has incredible
resilience to fire,
clearing, and any type of damage that would kill many other types of vegetation.
There is a cycle in the Mallee woodland growth, that runs over many years. The mature Mallees are large and the understorey is sparse, because light reaching the ground is reduced by the Mallee leaf cover.
Then a fire goes through, the Mallee appears to be totally destroyed - but the lignotubers and stems resprout, the burnt stems eventually decompose and falls onto the ground (making for small animal and insect habitat) - and the Mallee then recovers to its original height, over somewhere between 25 and 50 years - until another fire damages it, and the cycle starts again.
Mallee lignotubers are virtually indestructable - apart from constant attack by Man in
clearing for farming purposes.
The only other major threat to Mallee and the natural re-establishment of
Kangaroo Island vegetation, is introduced woody weeds and perennial grasses, such as Perennial Veldt Grass.
See Page 7 in the link below for the Mallee cycle -
Kangaroo Island Mallee woodlands
Cheers, Ron.
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