Ever-changing Landscape

Fire Regime

The ESBS plant community has evolved to be adapted to fire and to use fire to its advantage. Some native plants even require high intensity fire or chemicals in smoke to start germination.  

As urbanisation has spread around ESBS, the occurrence of fire events has been reduced because of the threat fire poses to houses and other infrastructure. This lack of fire means many plants will not germinate, and this leads to a lack of biodiversity as well as allowing opportunities for weeds to establish themselves.

A fire regime can be used as a weed management strategy as many weeds will not survive fires. An appropriate fire regime consists of a fire interval of 10 to 15 years in a mosaic pattern. A mosaic pattern allows for patches of woodland to be burned so that not all the woodlands are burnt at once.

Burning an area that is too large may create more weed problems because the newly created ash bed will encourage weeds to grow and compete with native plants. After burning, follow-up bush regeneration is required to remove any weeds that grow.  

The intensity of a fire is important as certain species of plants require high temperatures to germinate.

Aeolian Sand

ESBS grows on Aeolian sand which is sand that has been moved and deposited by the wind, primarily in the last glacial period which was 10,060-17,850 years ago.

• Sandy soils do not hold moisture very well due to the large size of sand particles.  
• Sand sediment tends to be dry and lacking in nutrients.  
• In ESBS soil, aluminum (and other metals) are bound to phosphorus to form inorganic compounds. This makes phosphorus unavailable for plants to absorb. This is the same reason why many Australian native plants are sensitive to phosphorus: because they are used to growing in low phosphorus environments.
• Soils that are high in clay particles tend to hold water due to the very small size of clay particles.