Segment: The Problem of Rain
Episode: Autumn 2020, Ep 1
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane
TX Date: 22 February 2020

One thing we have to conscious of is the impact of heavy rains after a bushfire. Trev talks with Dr. Joe Fontaine about the impacts of rain on our soils.

• Top soil is a precious home to microbial life and a vault storing seeds that will see the environment recover from scorching heat! But it’s also vulnerable until these seeds have germinated.
• Dr Joe Fontaine of Murdoch University studies the effects of a rapidly changing environment and the impacts of bushfire and fire ecology. He says the biggest issue the extent of the fires. Historically we would have had fires similar to this season, and so we begin to wonder if there is enough landscape left to recover from these fires.
• Due to so much of the landscape effected from the fires, many animals who prefer greener vegetation will now be displaced. And that becomes an issue when the scale of the fire is as large as it has been this year.
• The concern is, long-term, if we have consistent fires we may end up losing some of the plants that we love the most.