New research has revealed Australia's iconic grasstrees -- known as 'yaccas' -- play a critical role in protecting wildlife from deadly weather extremes, thereby ensuring their survival. But the grasses themselves are under threat due to back burning, clearing and disease.
Australia's iconic grass-trees -- aka yaccas -- are hardy, drought-tolerant, and strikingly beautiful. Now, new research has revealed another, far more important, feature: their ability to protect wildlife from deadly weather extremes.
Temperatures under the grass-tree canopies at four sites in the Mt Lofty Ranges were up to 20 degrees cooler than under the direct sun in summer. In winter, conditions were significantly warmer under the grass skirts at night.-- also doubles as an effective umbrella, keeping the soil completely dry under 80% of the bigger, older yaccas during weeks of heavy rain.
"Several of the 29 species of Australian grass-trees are known to host native bush rats, threatened bandicoots, echidnas and pygmy-possums, among other wildlife," Dr Petit says. However, the yaccas on the mainland and Kangaroo Island are facing multiple threats which could have dramatic consequences for wildlife, Dr Petit says.is having a devastating impact on the grass-trees, causing widespread dieback. Fuel reduction programs, summer fires and land clearing are threatening their survival even further."Moreover, even if grass-trees are not killed by fires, their very old thick skirts of dead leaves burn, leaving no shelter to animals in post-bushfire environments.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Study observes sudden acceleration of flow, generates new boundary layer -- ScienceDailyIn an experiment on how turbulent boundary layers respond to acceleration in the flow around them, aerospace engineers at the observed an unexpected internal boundary layer.
Read more »
Study uncovers potential new source of genetic mutations that cause neurodegenerative disease -- ScienceDailyAn international team of scientists has discovered an additional potential cause of the genetic mutations that result in rare neurodegenerative conditions such as Huntington's disease.
Read more »
New insights into fighting antimicrobial resistance -- ScienceDailyCooking food thoroughly and avoiding some types of vegetables and salad during a course of antibiotic treatment could potentially reduce antibiotic resistance, by preventing bacteria carrying resistance genes getting into the gut, according to a new study.
Read more »
A new way to identify chiral molecules with light could vastly improve detection efficiency -- ScienceDailyResearchers have proposed a highly efficient method for detecting molecular chirality using tailored laser fields.
Read more »
Energy and heat transfer: A new 'spin' on ergodicity breaking -- ScienceDailyScientists have observed novel ergodicity-breaking in C60, a highly symmetric molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms arranged on the vertices of a 'soccer ball' pattern (with 20 hexagon faces and 12 pentagon faces). Their results revealed ergodicity breaking in the rotations of C60. Remarkably, they found that this ergodicity breaking occurs without symmetry breaking and can even turn on and off as the molecule spins faster and faster. Understanding ergodicity breaking can help scientists design better-optimized materials for energy and heat transfer.
Read more »