• Mishmash2000@lemmy.nz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    2 days ago

    First up, an article about this: https://www.greenmatters.com/news/2018/02/19/2m3wbf/border-collies-forest

    It doesn’t give much more info other than looking at the share scale of the destruction and the speed at which the doggos can cover the terrain! Looking into it a bit further it’s clear that when fires are this intense, they can sterilize the soil, destroying not just the trees/plants but also the seed bank and mycorrhizal networks that help forests regenerate. Plus, by choosing the seeds they spread they can convert areas that were overtaken by introduced species back to native ones. Natural seed dispersal can still happen by wind or wildlife but this can be much slower meaning regrowth is delayed meaning soil erosion can occur. Not all heroes wear capes, some wear leeetle backpacks!

    • pseudoOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      Thank you for the added context (^_^)

    • Peasley@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      Before widespread fire supression, fires in many regions were likely more frequent but less intense.

      It makes sense that modern fires might be quite different than the fires these seeds are normally adapted to withstand