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Just weeks after the fiery destruction of a swath of Kings Park, WA botanists have unveiled a break through in understanding how plants regenerate after bushfires.
Researchers at the University of WA and Kings Park and Botanic Garden have identified a family of molecules that trigger seeds and seedlings to grow in response to smoke — a crucial process in the recovery of fire-struck bush. The molecules — plant hormones named karrikins after the Nyoongar work Karrik, meaning smoke — are found in a range of plants. Fire is an important part of the natural cycle for many bushland species,
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although it was not previously clear how plants were triggered to regrow, because heat alone had no regenerative effect.
The new research shows that the crucial trigger is smoke, the scientists, led by UWA's Steven Smith and David Nelson, reported in the journal Plant Physiology.
Kings Park and Botanic Garden science director Kingsley Dixon, who also worked on the research, said regrowth at the fire-damaged site would begin once the seeds and seedlings received a dose of rain.
The researchers also found
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that karrikins are present in temperate plants not normally exposed to fire, suggesting that the mechanism may be a evolutionarily one. UWA linguistics professor Alan Dench said, karrikin joins other Nyoongar words now in common and scientific parlance, such as jarrah, karri and chuditch.
"Second only to the original language of Sydney Cove, Nyoongar has given more words to the English language than any other indigenous Australian language," he said.
~Michael Hopkin — The West Australian
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