BIODIVERSITY is important, really important. Biodiverse systems are complex and more resistant to or at least capable of adapting to challenges. A simple system is vulnerable to pests and diseases and much more susceptible to environmental factors like climate change. As climatic barriers are gradually lowered, high latitude managed and homogeneous forest ecosystems are particularly at risk. Thirteen million hectares of western Canada’s forest resource has been ravaged by an insect pest as warmer temperatures have slowly moved north.
What has this to do with a landcare group in our area is an obvious question. We are fortunate to live in an already biodiverse part of the country so we have a good base on which to build. As we replant our creek lines, increase the width of buffer zones and revegetate paddocks no longer used for production, we need to use the widest range of plants available to us and appropriate to the site.
We might also trial a few species from a slightly different altitude or rainfall zone but still within the Blackall Range. This is effectively planned adaptation to the challenges of the future. It’s creative and enjoyable to grow a wide diversity of species, to group them according to their needs, and to monitor them for growth and the wildlife they may attract. This approach can apply just as much to gardening as to revegetation. Visitors to the nursery tent at the recent Barung Wood Expo would have been pleased and possibly surprised by the range of trees, shrubs and other plants available for purchase.
Biodiversity is of course not only plants but the litter the fungi which are part of the recycling process and the associated fauna, large and small. They all contribute to the health of the system and keep it resilient. Change is a constant but we and our environment can adapt so long as we build a sufficiently biodiverse base on our own properties.
BARUNG NATIVE PLANT NURSERY
Nursery opening times: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – 9am -3pm
Phone 5494 3151
Leave a Reply