page_title: Black Thursday bushfires
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Black Thursday bushfires / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Burnt Bases of Eucalyptus tenuiramis in Dry Sclerophyll Forest, Sandford, Tasmania.
context_page_description: The Black Thursday bushfires were a devastating series of fires that swept the state of Victoria, Australia, on 6 February 1851, burning up 5 million hectares, or about a quarter of the state's area. Twelve human lives were lost, along with one million sheep, thousands of cattle and countless native animals.
  "The temperature became torrid, and on the morning of the 6th of February 1851, the air which blew down from the north resembled the breath of a furnace. A fierce wind arose, gathering strength and velocity from hour to hour, until about noon it blew with the violence of a tornado. By some inexplicable means it wrapped the whole country in a sheet of flame — fierce, awful, and irresistible."
context_section_description: Intense bushfires are not uncommon in southern Australia. The region is one of the three most fire-prone in the world. Within the last two hundred years, the area has experienced and documented at least twenty-five major fires, beginning with Black Thursday in 1851. The intensity of these fires is due in part to natural fuels, such as sclerophyll forests in the region. While adapting to cope with drought and predators, the trees' leaves turn into prime fuel for fires. They become tough as protection from dry conditions and to increase the efficiency of nutrient use. They also develop tough spikes and chemicals to protect themselves from small animals. The leaves' tough surface allows them to last longer and build up on the forest floor and the chemical makes them flammable.. The abundance of flammable fuel can cause an inferno with a single spark.
  The area's disturbance regime has shaped the landscape by causing the plant communities to evolve and develop mechanisms to aid in speedy recovery. The native species of the Australian bush, for example, have developed post fire seed release and smoke exposure germination. Other plants, such as acacia, eucalyptus, and Monotoca elliptica have adapted to survive in dry, nutrient poor soil.
  Acacia oncinocarpa and Eucalyptus miniata, for example, and perennial herbs all have adaptive mechanisms that enable them to live in fire-prone areas of Australia. Both the acacia (a small spreading shrub) and eucalyptus (an overstorey tree) can regenerate from seeds and vegetatively regenerate new shoots from buds that escape fire. Reproduction and seed fall occur during the eight dry months. Due to the area's frequent fires, the seeds are usually released onto a recently burnt seed bed.
  Perennial herbs survive fire by avoidance. They make up the understorey and grow during seasons with lower temperatures and more rainfall. By dying back in the summer they avoid most fires. During a fire, they have a bulb or root mass that lives underground, and only the dead stems and leaves burn, so the plant survives and begins to grow again the following year.
caption: Burnt bases of Eucalyptus tenuiramis in dry sclerophyll forest
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