Needless to say, the Australian wildfires have been painful to observe. More than 6.3 million hectares (63,000 sq km or 15.6 million acres) have been burned so far. To get a perspective of just how much that is, know that one hectare is roughly the size of a sports field.
Although the wildfires paint a bleak forecast for our future in the age of climate change, there is still reason to feel a glimmer of hope. That hope comes in the form of new photos from Murray Lowe, who recently published images of small plants and rose-colored shrubs sprouting amongst the ashes–a testament to the incredible resilience of nature.
Is it normal to see plants resprouting again after a fire? Yes, it is. Most forests have developed mechanisms to cope with such fires to regrow as quickly as possible. To do so, the trees usually have two mechanisms.
One involves resprouting – or having tree buds sitting deep below the surface where the intense heat of a fire can’t reach them. Once the fire subsides, the shrubs are able to sprout quickly and start growing again.
The second method is by regeneration with heat resistant seeds. After a fire, growing conditions are usually optimal since the ashes left behind are a good fertilizer filled with nutrients, and there is plenty of sun and space to grow again.
Want to see the encouraging photos for yourself? Look no further.
