Floods can be a disaster for humans – but for nature, it's boom time

By Paul Humphries, Associate professor in ecology, Charles Sturt University
Keller Kopf, Lecturer, Charles Darwin University

Humans, as a rule, do not like floods. And three years of La Niña rains have meant Australians have had more than enough of floods.

But Australia’s plants and animals have evolved alongside periodic floods, as they have for fire. For them, floods are a boon. These pulses of water are vital to the health of most river floodplain ecosystems. For some native fish, floods create new habitat as the waters fill floodplains, wetlands and creeks. Many trees like river red gums need periodic flooding too.

Floods trigger a huge spike in growth. Nutrient-rich sediment is washed downstream…

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