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Uni in the Brewery: Session 4
"Exploring some favourite myths about bushfires" by Professor Ross Bradstock
Bushfires are an integral part of the Australian environment – most ecosystems experience fire with some regularity. Fires not only shape our environment but also engagement with it as people. For many urban dwellers bushfires are things to be feared, while for many in the bush, fires are part of life and the tool box used to extract a living from the land. Not surprisingly many of us have opinions about fire but myths abound ranging from sources of ignition to bouncing fireballs, exploding houses and the notion that the flora of Australia is “adapted to fire”. Let’s help ourselves to a smorgasbord of common myths about fire and learn something about its complexity, beauty and transformative power.
Accompanying Ross is Dr Kris French...
"Creating ecosystems: can we do as well as evolution?" by Dr Kris French
In the haste to reverse our effect on the world, we are planting millions of trees, looking to undertake biodiversity banking and instilling mitigation processes into developments. And yet, the restoration industry seems stuck in a rut that is more like a gardening exercise than the creation of a functioning ecosystem. What’s missing? Why aren’t we successful? I think some basic ecology is missing. I present 4 logical pointers about how our restoration efforts must change if we are to do anything but garden. It requires an industry-level change and an appreciation of what evolution did over millions of years.
