Jarrah Forest

Pine Nut

Stick and Stone ants
These ants are amazing. They make their nest out of sticks and stones- the structure is incredibly strong. (i tested it) haha.
During winter-- you can see the white, reflective stones which are on the top of the nest. They use the stones to absorb the sunlight and at night they carry it into the nest to keep the temperature up. During Summer, their nest is made of more sticks-- to provide ventilation for the nest-- keeping it cooler on hot days.

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Went to the Jarrah forest near Mundaring Weir on thursday with the geography kids. Altho i don't teach geog, i really love the subject and the physical aspect of it. (studies of geography are mainly split into human geog and physical geog)
The eco-tour was about fire and it's advantages and disadvantages. Well, we all know about wildfire and the destruction it causes to the bush here in WA... but there are advantages of fire as well. Some plants require fire to crack open the hard seeds in order for the baby seedlings to grow. Here in WA, there's a practice called "prescribed burning" -- where the rangers set fire (in mosaic patterns) to the forest to enable certain plants to resprout. This also reduces the chances of wildfires starting.

Fire is not all that bad- little is known about the Aboriginal practice of prescribed burning- but it is evident that they have been doing it for centuries before the British came to Australia.