While a warmer and drier spring and summer has the potential to bring a host of visitors to the Australian Alps, it may also have consequences for the current dieback phenomenon unfolding in the area.
Australian longicorn borers are known worldwide for their ability to aggressively infest eucalypt plantations. In Australia, too, longicorn outbreaks have struck plantations in Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland. By contrast, outbreaks of longicorns are rare in native eucalypt forests. Why? Well, it’s not clear, but the current theory is that to be successful, longicorn populations must develop in forests that are persistently drought-stressed. In plantations, a single species is often planted over a varying landscape that is, in some cases, too dry. Native eucalypt forests, however, generally comprise numerous species leading to a patterned landscape of species that is more resilient to stress.
“Snow-gum dieback—the phenomenon quietly eating away at our high-elevation woodlands—is very poorly understood. For example, it is completely unclear why some stands of trees are being virtually wiped out, while others, only 500 metres away, are virtually untouched. Are there underlying differences between sites with differing dieback severity, or is dieback severity a product of patterns in the spread of the insect responsible?”
Following reports of isolated tree deaths throughout Kosciuszko National Park in 2007-08, sub-alpine forests in the Australian Alps are now in widespread decline. A team of environmental scientists from the Australian National University are working to learn more about this devastating problem and how to stop it and they need your help.
Following reports of isolated tree deaths throughout Kosciuszko National Park in 2007-08, sub-alpine forests in the Australian Alps are now in widespread decline.
In these times of uncertainty and turmoil, the Wilderness still sits in the background. Quiet, boisterous, peaceful, serene, feisty and magnificent. It’s many moods continue. It doesn’t know about a virus, or the stock market, or any of our other problems (apart from Climate Change). It is still a fabulous place to escape to and just be there.
