How quickly can nature recover after a damaged or disturbed ecosystem?

A total of 4.9m hectares, an area larger than Denmark, has been destroyed in NSW during the nationwide fire crisis in Australia. Now, only a month after fires devastated the region, beautiful photographs of the bush regrowing on the NSW Central Coast have been released by local photographer Murray Lowe. According to Murray, "even without any rain, life bursts through the burnt bark from the heart of the trees and the life cycle begins again." Indeed his photos give us a lot of hope that nature can indeed recover quickly after it has been damaged.

But can nature really regenerate this quickly after it has been damaged or disturbed? A study by Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Science concluded that ecosystems are quite resilient and can regrow after a natural catastrophe. In general, forest ecosystems take around 42 years to recover, whereas it only takes 10 years for ocean areas to restore. The main reason for this is that animals and organisms in aquatic systems turn over more rapidly than in forest ecosystems. Yet this research is only true if the source of the damage to the ecosystem is completely removed. Hence, natural disturbances such as severe storms, fire, insects, volcanic activity, earthquakes, droughts, and long-term freezing are damaging to the environment, but nature can recover quicker as these are mostly temporary. Human disturbances, on the other hand, are more difficult to tackle as they are not a temporary change to the environment conditions, therefore nature needs a lot more time to regrow. Examples for human disturbances are climate change, pollution, overfishing, waste dumping etc.

Bushfires in Australia have been a widespread and a regular occurrence to mould nature. However, an outbreak which was as intense and large as in 2019/2020 is completely unprecedented. So even though the picture above shows us that nature can reestablish from such a devastating natural catastrophe, it is crucial to find its source. Because if fires strike again and again at the same areas repeatedly, it can destroy trees, their roots, and shoots in the long run. Nature will then not have enough time to recover. Consequently, forests will be reduced and replaced by grasslands, since trees need a longer period of time to regrow. In this case, even positive human intervention such as re-seeding and replanting would not be enough.

Another study in 2016, which involved 1,203 scientists, hundreds of scientific institutions and more than 160 governments, and brought together by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), concluded that “if current trends continue, and the world fails to enact solutions that improve patterns of production and consumption, if we fail to use natural resources sustainably, then the state of the world’s environment will continue to decline.” Indeed Australian scientists believe that the bushfires are a human disturbance, caused by external factors such as climate change as increased rising temperatures, droughts and wind speed, have made Australia more vulnerable to intense bush fires. Currently, climate issues still don’t feature high on the agenda of Australian politicians. Australia still favours coal mining as an energy source even though it is known to destruct landscapes, to cause deforestation and erosion, to contaminate ground water, to pollute air with chemical particles & dust, and to leak methane into the atmosphere. Australia is also not on track to meet its 2030 emissions targets under the Paris Agreement. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also finds  that Australia has no national long-term vision on sustainable development to protect its flora and fauna. Australia is home to a 10th of global species - so let’s that hope political change will happen soon!

To see more beautiful photographs of Murray Love: https://www.9news.com.au/national/thousands-share-heartening-photos-of-bush-regrowing-after-fires/bcf10b09-d2ef-4a03-a835-1842f3585c3c?ocid=Social-9NewsA&fbclid=IwAR3ynrgRfsoPZPegp7oOedoWV34TbcuMk5z1-dIwaGacaAK6C_8v1uMoQXE

To find more information on Australian’s bushfires: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/3/21048891/australia-wildfires-koalas-climate-change-bushfires-deaths-animals-damage

To find more information on how humans are damaging the environment: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/19/humans-damaging-the-environment-faster-than-it-can-recover-report-finds

To find more information on Australian’s OECD report: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/30/australias-record-on-emissions-and-sustainability-condemned-by-oecd-review

To find more information on the effect of coal mining: https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Negative-Effects-of-Coal-Mining

To find more information on climate change in Australia: https://www.carbonbrief.org/media-reaction-australias-bushfires-and-climate-change