Special Project

Bush fire is impacting on forests throughout NSW, including in the south-east. For locals and for naturalists, this can be a traumatic time. Forests long stressed by drought are now blackened and silent. But the aftermath of fire also presents an important opportunity to collect valuable scientific information. Help us as we seek to monitor and document the post-fire recovery of our native forests and bushland.

Some fungi, like some plants, only appear after fire. There has already been a Laccocephalum hartmannii recorded in Meroo National Park.

Here’s a note from Pam O’Sullivan, a fungi expert and moderator of NatureMap sightings.

“ If people have the opportunity to dig around the bases of Laccocephalum species, they will find that the fungi emerge from sclerotia of varying sizes. These are a sterile mass under the soil. These fungi usually will have their caps close to the ground, a short stem, and have pores.

There will be a number of other fungi that come up after fires that you should keep an eye out for: other species of Laccocephalum; Anthracobia muelleri, small yellowish to orange discs; Pyronema omphalodes, which forms pinkish orange gelatinous patches, then small lumps. These are just a few.

Please keep an eye out for any fungi appearing in burnt ground and record them if possible, noting if the ground was lightly, moderately or heavily burnt and the time since the fire. These fire responsive fungi will gradually, over about five years, be replaced by the original species for the area.

This is a great opportunity to create something positive out of the devastation of the fires and to gather much needed information.”

So keep an eye out in recently burnt bush, photograph what you see, and add your sightings to the relevant NatureMapr project for the region: Atlas of Life in the Coastal Wilderness; Budawang Coast Nature Map; or Canberra Nature Map. Note that once you have registered on any one of these projects, you can simply log in with the same user name and password on the other sites.