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Topic Grassland ecosystems
Question How do grasslands of the Western Volcanic Plains differ from other Victorian, Australian and overseas grasslands?
Expert Neville Walsh
Neville Walsh is Senior Conservation Botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. His work involves both plant identification and classification, and, conservation. Neville's roles include naming and describing new plant species and investigating how rare species can be conserved.
Because the volcanic plains are covered by mostly heavy clay soils, this has a strong influence on what plants can grow there. Clay soils can be hard for the roots of some species to penetrate, and in summer, they shrink, dry, and form extensive cracks. It’s this drying and cracking that some people think is the reason for there being no trees – their roots can’t cope with the movement, they get damaged when they’re seedlings. But as well as the soils, the range of plants in our grasslands are particular to this area. The mix of grasses – kangaroo grass, wallaby grass, spear grass, is...
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