Fire is integral to many Australian ecosystems, acting to clear the landscape for a new generation of plants. In many locations, it is only after fire that Drosera binata appears. Between burns, thick layers of Gleichenia ferns develop and smother the ground of light. During this period, D. binata lies dormant waiting for scrub to be cleared. It is the years after fire that the species thrives, growing and reproducing as much as they can before their next long dormancy.

The 2019-2020 fires of Australia’s East Coast devestated the land but awakened the D. binata in the gullies of the Blue Mountains a year later. It is unknown how a warming planet and increase in fire intensity and intervals might affect this age old dynamic between destruction and regeneration.