<
https://theconversation.com/ancient-mud-reveals-australias-burning-history-over-the-past-130-000-years-and-shows-a-way-through-our-fiery-future-239561>
"Increased land management by Aboriginal people in southeastern Australia
around 6,000 years ago cut forest shrub cover in half, according to our new
study of fossil pollen trapped in ancient mud.
Shrubs connect fires from ground cover to the forest canopy, allowing fires to
spread and intensify quickly. The reduction in shrub cover, linked to evidence
for increasing population size and more widespread landscape use by Aboriginal
people, would have dramatically decreased the potential for high-intensity
bushfires.
We also found the shrub layer in modern forests is even greater than it was
130,000–115,000 years ago, when the climate was similar to today’s but there
were no people around.
Our deep-time research shows how important Indigenous cultural practices were
for reducing dangerous high-intensity fires. It also suggests a way forward in
Australia’s current fire crisis, which climate change is making worse."
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
