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https://theconversation.com/floods-can-be-a-disaster-for-humans-but-for-nature-its-boom-time-192837>
"Humans, as a rule, do not like floods. And three years of La Niña rains have
meant Australians have had more than enough of floods.
But Australia’s plants and animals have evolved alongside periodic floods, as
they have for fire. For them, floods are a boon. These pulses of water are
vital to the health of most river floodplain ecosystems. For some native fish,
floods create new habitat as the waters fill floodplains, wetlands and creeks.
Many trees like river red gums need periodic flooding too.
Floods trigger a huge spike in growth. Nutrient-rich sediment is washed
downstream and out on to floodplains. This is a boon to algae and aquatic
plants at first, and, once the water evaporates, to grasses, shrubs and trees.
Herbivores such as wallabies and wombats feast on the new growth.
Most of the time, rivers stay in their main channels and floodplains are dry.
But in years like this one, so much rain falls that water spills over the banks
and fills floodplains. This is a life-giving process which nourishes and
replenishes. Without floods, rivers would not be rivers – they’d just be
drains, unfit for all but the very hardiest of animals and plants."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
