Thursday, 16 July 2009

Regeneration

A photopoint is a particular place from which photos are taken regularly in order to monitor changes in vegetation, environmental damage and so on. For several years now I've been taking photos from a bridge over the Darlot Creek at Homerton so I can monitor changes after a bluegum plantation was put in on the west side.

The first photo here was taken early in 2007 - note the tree on the right, on its last legs, lots of hollows, broken limbs on the ground and sparse foliage. Compare this with the second photo that I took last week. See how the tree seems to have a new lease of life. The new leafy growth in the centre of the tree is quite amazing.

I'm wondering if the tree is enjoying the fact that the cattle that used to puddle around its base have now been removed, and that it is protected it from the prevailing winds by the trees that now surround it.


2 comments:

mick said...

That's an interesting idea to document changes. There is quite a lot more water in the second photo. Would that have been enough to help make some changes? I guess you would really need to record rainfall patterns as well.

Snail said...

It looks a lot perkier!

Maybe the bluegums acted as a decoy for gum-lovin' fauna?