Student Instructions: Read the following passage and as you are reading circle the correct word/antonym out of the two provided in each case. A range of geographical processes combine to make Australia particularly vulnerable to bushfires. The drying of the Australian climate When Australia was part of Gondwanaland, the climate was cool / warm and wet, despite the supercontinent being located in the high / low latitudes. The subsequent separation of the Australian continent and its northward drift carried it into the latitudes characterised by dry, subsiding air. The dominance of high-pressure systems over the continent produced fine, sunny conditions. Thus, Australia became characterised by low, unreliable rainfall / heat and prolonged rainfall / droughts associated with El Nio events. The Australian climate is generally hot / cool, dry / wet and prone to floods / drought. Such conditions parch the country and increase / decrease the bushfire threat. The evolution of Australian flora (Use the following words to fill in the blanks) water nutrients leaves ignite sclerophyll burn oils fuel drying drought combustibility soils The __________________________ of the climate resulted in vegetation types adapted to aridity and the continents relatively infertile __________________________. Many plants developed __________________________ characteristics; for example, small, thick, leathery leaves, which need to be replaced less often. They require fewer __________________________ and less __________________________, and therefore tend to survive better in infertile or arid habitats. During times of __________________________ Australian eucalypts modify their transpiration rates. This is done by shedding __________________________. The dead leaves accumulate on the forest floor creating __________________________. LTNS HSIE-J.Awkar and G.Bobin- Patrician Brothers Fairfield, 2010 In dry conditions the rate of decomposition slows significantly. Sclerophyll leaves also have aromatic __________________________ and waxes, which inhibit insect attack. The presence of these compounds, and lower water content, result in high levels of __________________________. This explains why so many of these plants __________________________ explosively. Even the vapour above the tree crowns is volatile and will __________________________. LTNS HSIE-J.Awkar and G.Bobin- Patrician Brothers Fairfield, 2010 The Aboriginal use of fire (Fill in the blanks using a word of your own choosing) Bushfires have always been part of the Australian biophysical __________________________. Many were started by lightning __________________________. When Aboriginal people __________________________, more than 50000 years ago, they adapted their lifestyle to the prevailing conditions. They also learned to manage the land in ways that met their __________________________. Their main tool was low-intensity fire. Aboriginal people made frequent and purposeful use of fire: to keep the country more open and easy to traverse (or travel through); to promote the __________________________ of fresh green grass and herbs that would restore biodiversity and attract animals; as a means of signalling and hunting; and for the more obvious purposes of warmth and cooking. Their patterns of burning were quite __________________________. They deliberately used fire to clear out some heavy bush areas and burnt the areas around fire-sensitive vegetation communities as a form of protection for fire-sensitive plants. The main __________________________ of the widespread use of fire was to favour those plants __________________________ adapted to fire or which were best able to regenerate in its wake. European settlement and bushfire management (Complete the following sentences with words of your own choosing) The Australian environment was considered difficult and hostile by the European settlers, and they were ____________________________________________________________________________________________________. The explosive infernos in the Australian bush were ____________________________________________________________________________________________________. There was no understanding that the bush in Australia ____________________________________________________________________________________________________. Bushfires, for the most part, were terrifying. They killed people and stock and ____________________________________________________________________________________________________. The response was to try to extinguish bushfires or to ____________________________________________________________________________________________________. Fires, being part of the natural cycle in Australia, were inevitable, and with more fuel to burn they ____________________________________________________________________________________________________. LTNS HSIE-J.Awkar and G.Bobin- Patrician Brothers Fairfield, 2010
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