The Long Dry is Over

Well as you read this, hopefully the rain has continued beyond the Christmas – New Year break and is filling the creeks and dams again. This may seem rather selfish and rather miserable of me to wish a wet start on 2010, but after the long dry that we ended 2009 on we desperately need a good top up.Its quite likely we could even be in the midst of some severe flooding by the time you read this which would certainly be a contrast to the drought we were suffering a mere few weeks back – but that is Australia, a land of extremes!It’s the extremes of our climate that make the ecosystems of Australia unique. The pattern of life is focused on the conservation of energy. For example the Dingo a recent arrival to the Australian continent of only a few thousand years has already reduced its breeding cycle to once per year, as opposed to the Asian wolf ancestor and recent feral dogs which can breed several times per year. Next is the Antechinus. Although mouse like in appearance, it is a fearsome, if somewhat diminutive carnivore, whose whole male population dies after mating (what a way to go!), so that there is less competition for limited food resources.Many Australian animals also have adapted to limited food resources by co-operatively rearing young. That is, older brothers and sisters assisting their parents in rearing their parent’s offspring rather than their own – so as to increase the chances of survival for another generation. Did you know that kangaroos are always pregnant? But that the foetus growth can be arrested until there is sufficient food available for the mother to rear young.It’s not just the fauna that have made these conservative adaptations to life in Australia. Icons of the Australian bush are the Wattle and Gum tree. Most wattles have adapted to our harsh climate by not producing leaves at all and instead have a leaf like structure which is infact a flattened stem, known as a phyllode. Well if it looks like a leaf, what’s the big deal I hear you ask? Again the adoption of the phyllode is an example of conservancy as they lose less water than true leaves. The gum tree is another great utiliser of minimal resources and has been shaped by and inturn shaped Australian ecosystems.Australian ecosystems are dominated by examples of life adapting to the limited and or variable resources available. In your garden, in your paddock and in your orchard its worthwhile remembering the variability of the Australian environment so that we too can better adapt to the resources available, be it drought or flood!Brush Turkey EnterprisesPh 0428 130 769spencer.shaw@brushturkey.com.auwww.brushturkey.com.au