This page is an extract of a script that is part of the video series
"The Living Landscape-an Australian Ecosystems Series".
Visit all ecosystems.

Dry sclerophyll forest is well named. These areas have a limited amount of rain each year. In dry periods, plants have to live on the nutrients they've stored.

SCLEROPHYLL FOREST
The spotted gum, for example, doesn't lose all its leaves every year (though it does shed its bark), and it doesn't have dormant periods. Its growth is continual, so it can take advantage of whatever rain falls. It's able to generate a growth spurt whenever conditions are right. In dry times, its leaves don't lose much water.

MAGNIFIED LEAF
A magnification of a leaf shows the oil glands, and a thick, waxy cuticle and hard tissue skeleton that work to reduce water loss.

LEAVES OF A EUCALYPT OR GUM
Transpiration, or loss of water through the pores of the leaves, is further reduced by the fact that the leaves hang vertically, avoiding the sun in the hottest part of the day. Even their light, silvery colour reflects sunlight and helps keep the leaves cool. The trees grow in areas of poor soil and little water, but they are so well adapted to their conditions that they still manage to gather and transpire about 240 litres of water every day.

LORIKEET FEEDING ON NECTAR
Most flowers in a dry sclerophyll forest are small, with reduced petals and exposed stamens. This not only helps reduce water loss for the plant, but assists the animals that feed on it. The nectar is easily reached by the birds, insects and mammals that depend on it.

The roots of trees in dry sclerophyll forests are shallow, and they spread widely, because most of the nutrients they need are in the upper layers of the soil. This also means they're able to soak up more rainwater. But the wide spreading roots are also a handicap, because they don't provide good anchorage. Trees can fall easily.

VARIOUS SEEDS FROM "THE BUSH"
The trees tend to produce lots of seeds. Many have woody cases that protect the seeds, because they may have a long wait before they get the rain they need to germinate. The seeds also need fire. With a lot of leaf litter about, full of very flammable oils, fires spread easily. But the plants survive, and regenerate after the fire.

EPICORMIC BUDS
Eucalypts like spotted gums might regenerate from epicormic buds. (zbush7.gif Subtext: Epicormic buds shoot from the burnt base of a small eucalypt.) These are hidden under the bark, and are protected by it. But if the tree's leaves are destroyed, either by fire or insects, these epicormic buds produce clusters of shoots.

Eucalypts can also regenerate from lignotubers. These are dormant buds, hidden in a swelling at the base of the tree. They only shoot after fire, or if the tree is stressed.

KANGAROOS REST BY DAY
The mammals in a dry sclerophyll forest are largely nocturnal. They hide and sleep during the hot, dry days and come out to feed during the cooler night period. Many of Australia's most distinctive mammals live in the forests: possums, echidnas, kangaroos, wombats, dingos, wallabies and koalas.

MOTHER KOALA AND CUB
The koalas are most active at night. Though they come to the ground occasionally, they live mostly in the tree tops, in one of the few eucalypts whose leaves they eat. Koalas share a common ancestor with wombats. Both animals still have a bottom-opening pouch. Koalas use their well-adapted twin thumbs to grasp branches securely, and they rest comfortably in the trees on their own built-in seats of skin and fat.