tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223294603002782762.post3434490289831909634..comments2024-03-24T06:10:25.358-07:00Comments on Noel's Garden Blog: Portugal's firestorm disaster - eucalyptus to blame Noel Kingsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09443137231998907024noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223294603002782762.post-12788084500985709492018-03-27T19:35:38.405-07:002018-03-27T19:35:38.405-07:00I found this article about the fires with eucalypt...I found this article about the fires with eucalyptus trees and i thought it was in tune to your story<br /> https://baynature.org/article/burning-question-east-bay-hills-eucalyptus-flammable-compared/<br /><br />ome 600 members of genus Eucalyptus dominate forests across Australia. There, the debate isn’t over whether the trees are flammable, says David Bowman, a fire ecologist at the University of Tasmania, but about whether the trees have simply evolved to survive fire, or whether they actually promote fire as a way to snuff out competitors. “It’s an amazing just-so story,” he says of the possibility: “Eucalypts evolved to burn their neighbors.”<br /><br />It’s clear that fire benefits the trees. “For most eucalypts, fire was not a destroyer but a liberator,” writes fire ecologist Stephen Pyne in his book Burning Bush. Many species of eucalyptus both tolerate fire, hiding from the flames behind thick bark, and depend on it to open their seed pods. Fire often even seems to have a rejuvenating effect on the trees. After a fire, many eucalypt species will sprout epicormic shoots along their entire trunks. In the event that a fire does destroy the aboveground parts of the tree, it can send up new shoots from lignotubers, nutrient-filled organs hidden among its roots.Curtis Westnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223294603002782762.post-45650613834905484432018-02-04T09:01:31.384-08:002018-02-04T09:01:31.384-08:00Re Portugal's devastating fires and Ophelia: I...Re Portugal's devastating fires and Ophelia: I read John mcphee's "the control of nature" many years ago. The section about the Los Angeles basin, it's geology, fires, rains, and mudslides is so instructive and informative. <br />Sad to say, the observations (about the inexplicable connections between the fire sites, the following torrential rains--heavier than in adjacent, unburnt areas--and ensuing mudslides) McPhee made seem to have been ignored in the succeeding years, as we are continually treated to sensational news coverage of the "unbelievable coincidences" of pacific storms, fires, mudslides, destruction of life and property. As McPhee noted, meteorologists had no explanation for these "coincidences," which were nonetheless measurable ad observable. <br />~ Abigail HigginsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223294603002782762.post-68969842563633661852018-02-03T14:48:51.683-08:002018-02-03T14:48:51.683-08:00The same horror stories around Eucalyptus, pine an...The same horror stories around Eucalyptus, pine and also palm trees here. Why are palms often the first and only choice for trees?Diana Studerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12286066768376135880noreply@blogger.com