20th April - Events

Throughout evolution events occurred that altered the course of evolution. Events, therefore became an important part of evolution. Consider the event of an animal eating a plant. Or an animal digging a hole or building a nest. We tend to think that plants are low on the pecking order and animals are higher. However because plants and animals evolved together plants have evolved to cope with the presence of animals and, in fact, need them.

Whereas we think of animals needing plants to survive. In fact the reverse is also true. Most plants need animals since they evolved to survive in a world inhabited by animals. Pollination and seed dispersal are reasonably well understood. However grazing animals are just as important.

For this reason, the most important event, from the plants point of view, is being grazed by animals. There is no doubt that many plants could not survive without grazing. Grasses, for example, evolved to survive in a world of grazers.

Probably the most important event evolutionary, would be grazing. Plants and animals evolved together. Plants need animals just as much as animals need plants. Without grazing animals the bushland enters a type of senility. Biodiversity reduces. A whole range of plants that need the grazing event disappear.

Of course fire then becomes the major event. Without grazing animals the fuel load builds up to the point where a fire must occur. Now a whole range of plants that rely on fire as the trigger to grow, start winning the evolutionary race.

That is, of course, what as happened in the Australian bush today.

For example when you develop your wirra then everything you do is an event which will trigger all sorts of plants to germinate and grow. If you remove woody weeds then that is an event which will cause all sorts of plants to grow – mainly the woody weeds you have just removed or, worse still, more invasive weeds

For this reason it is imperative that you plan and understand what you are doing. It is a lot better to take a bit longer than to be overwhelmed with weeds.