Putting together the puzzle of Australia’s bushfire

The recent Bushfires in Australia burnt almost 27 million acres. The death toll was recorded to be around 29 people, but the actual numbers could be around 1 billion. These staggering numbers give us the real picture of the damage. Why are we facing a disaster of this scale? What initiated all this? When did the root cause occur? What do we need to do to prevent this? Let us put together the pieces of the puzzle to find the answers.

First, let us understand whether forest fires are bad or good. Contrary to popular belief, regular smaller patches of bushfires are healthy for the environment. During the past, humans intervened to keep bushfires to a minimum, because of their flawed understanding of the after-effects of the blaze. So, how is the fire helpful? Let us look at the following benefits: Bushfires burn and disintegrate the weeds which compete with other plants for water and nutrients. The fire breaks down the dead trees and plants, helping to replenish the fertility of the soil. It also burns the overgrown and overlapping bushes and shrubs which do not allow sunlight to reach the soil surface. This nourishes the new fresh undershrubs which are important for the wildlife in the area. The sudden rise in temperature breaks larger rocks into smaller fragments creating more soil. The bushfire burns the crippled trees, reducing the competition for the healthier trees for nutrition. The post-fire environment acts as a habitat for certain species of animals. For example, black-backed woodpeckers prefer these kinds of ecosystems because of larvae in the hollow barks. The fire coupled with strong winds disperses the seeds from the burnt plants. Bushfire creates its rain, which not only promotes the growth of the devastated regions but also boosts the growth of the surrounding environment. Sometimes, rain clouds will be formed post a forest fire. How are these rains formed? Well, when the blaze heats the air above, it becomes less dense and rises along with the ashes. As the air rises it cools, so the moisture condenses around the ashes forming rain clouds. These rains trigger the dispersed seeds and a fresh juvenile forest is born once again. Beautiful! is it not?

Why is it that the Australian bushfires are creating a lot of destruction and havoc? There are two reasons for this. First, the fires are wide-spread and are occurring in multiple locations in a short period. Second, the flames are burning at a high intensity. If the fires break out in small patches, the forest climate will not be altered. The dense forest surrounding the burnt area helps to maintain the forest climate, helping the native plants to reclaim its place in the forest. So, when the fire burns the forest, why is the regrowth of the flora not possible in some cases? This is because all the native flora came into existence millions of years ago when the climatic conditions were very different from the present scenario. The climatic conditions changed over the years, but the native species of plants still managed to survive. The densely packed forest maintained the temperature and moisture levels, mimicking the earlier climate. These temperature and moisture levels cannot be maintained when the fire ravages the forest drastically. We can never get back the earlier forest plant species if the forest climate is altered.

Coming to the magnitude of the flames, it is indirectly a result of a network unorganized human activities, such as the uncontrollable expenditure of fossil fuels, rapid greenhouse gas emissions, light pollution throughout the night, harmful industrial emissions, extensive deforestation, a large percentage of exposed pavements and barren lands, etc. All these activities increase atmospheric temperatures. This increased atmospheric temperatures lead to the Indian Ocean Dipole, which is a result of temperature difference between the Western and Eastern Indian ocean. This is the reason why Australia is suffering one of its worst heatwave.

This video below will help to get a better understanding of the Indian Ocean Dipole.

https://youtu.be/J6hOVatamYs

Usually, the bigger trees do not catch fire, only the smaller plants ignite, controlling the magnitude of the flames. But now, the bigger trees are catching fire as a result of the rising temperatures, fueling the flames to an uncontrollable level. The increased temperatures heat the plants and trees, making the bigger plants susceptible to ignition. This is also the reason why the bushfires are dispersed. The heatwaves and dry flashes of lightning have a higher successful ignition ratio than before. This is the reason every state in Australia is facing at least one bushfire.

One more thing for us to worry about is evapotranspiration. Evapotranspiration is the process of transfer of water from the land to the atmosphere. When the forest disappears, there won’t be any more plants with roots big enough to penetrate deep into the soil. Let us break down the above sentence. This means the remaining plants will not be able to transpirate enough groundwater situated deep in the ground. This results in less evapotranspiration, which in turn affects the cooling of the atmosphere and formation of rain clouds. This ultimately leads to more global warming.

Coming to the next part of the chain of events. When the forest burns to an extent where it can never grow back, what happens to the wildlife that has adapted to that ecosystem for millions of years? Let us look into this taking the example of koalas and eucalyptus trees. Koala’s diet comprises eucalyptus leaves majorly. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to most of the animals and humans. So, the koalas are one of the very few species that can eat the eucalyptus leaves that are dying out. This is a win-win situation, where the eucalyptus trees are getting rid of their leaves that are not healthy and the koalas get their fill. Koalas are the only animals that can help the eucalyptus trees in this regard. The eucalyptus leaves are low in nutrients, so the koala copes up with this in the form of a bulk diet. When the koala’s feces reaches the ground it fertilizes the land. In this way, the koalas help the eucalyptus trees to fit into the ecological cycle.

But these koalas are slow-moving because they have to conserve energy as a result of this poor diet. So what happens if a forest fire as large and fast-moving like the one in Australia occurs? You probably guessed it right. They cannot escape. This is not the only way the fires affect the koalas. The stress from the rapid loss of habitat creates a bacterial infection, called chlamydia, in koalas which kills them. The main reason for the rapid loss of habitat is usually not the bush fires but deforestation from human encroachment. But this unusual series of bushfires, again indirectly boosted by human activities, could be a reason for habitat loss.

And what are the consequences we will have to face when the animals also die out? There are countless consequences, but let us first look into something in which people who do not relate to wildlife can understand. Australia’s unique animals form the backbone of the eco-tourism industry. There are also 30,000 jobs related to koala’s alone. Now let us look at a larger picture. To understand this, we must first know what mutualism is. Mutualism is nothing but the exchange of goods and services between different species in an ecosystem. It is an exact photocopy of the relationship between companies in a supply chain. Every rule of the supply chain is applicable in the mutualism between species as well. Even if one species disappears from the mutualism chain, a domino of ecological disasters follows. For example, China killing sparrows in 1958 gave way to one of the worst ecological disasters in history. On the other hand, an ecological chain of disasters follows when the population of a particular species is too much in the mutualism chain. For example, a network of negative impacts both ecologically and economically because of the growing population of humans.

When the animals become extinct, the final impact will be felt where the humans convert the circular chain of mutualism into a linear chain. In other words a supply chain of organizations. The lack of resources will choke the supply chain. The further chain of events that affects the economy and livelihood are for another blog. In short, the Australian bushfire and alot of other abnormal natural disasters are the result of inefficient supply chains around the world. In a supply chain, we thus have to extend the scope of planning from the mutualism between various organisation starting from the demand to beyond that of the supply. We will have to extend it to the mutualism between various species which are part of the supply.