Editing Banksia (section)

===Response to fire===
[[Image:Banksia prionotes response to fire Burma Rd email.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Banksia prionotes]]'' seedlings after fire, [[Burma Road Nature Reserve]], WA]]
[[Image:Banksiaserrataseedlings29872323593 014d92e255 o.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Banksia serrata]]'' seedlings and cone after fire, [[Beacon Hill, New South Wales|Beacon Hill]], NSW]]
''Banksia'' plants are naturally adapted to the presence of regular [[Bushfires in Australia|bushfires]] in the Australian landscape. About half of ''Banksia'' species are killed by bushfire, but these regenerate quickly from seed, as fire also stimulates the opening of seed-bearing follicles and the germination of seed in the ground.  The remaining species usually survive bushfire, either by resprouting from a woody base known as a [[lignotuber]] or, more rarely, [[Epicormic shoot|epicormic buds]] protected by thick bark. In [[Western Australia]], banksias of the first group are known as 'seeders' and the second group as 'sprouters'.<ref name="Lamont 1995">{{cite journal |last1=Lamont |first1=Byron B. | author-link1=Byron Lamont |last2=Markey |first2=Adrienne |year=1995 |title=Biogeography of Fire-killed and Resprouting ''Banksia'' Species in South-western Australia |journal=Australian Journal of Botany |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=283–303 |doi=10.1071/BT9950283}}</ref>

[[Image:Banksia attenuata response to fire Burma Rd email.jpg|thumb|''[[Banksia attenuata]]'' resprouting after fire, Burma Road Nature Reserve, WA]]
Infrequent bushfires at expected intervals pose no threat, and are in fact beneficial for regeneration of ''banksia'' populations. However, too frequent bushfires can seriously reduce or even eliminate populations from certain areas, by killing seedlings and young plants before they reach fruiting age.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wooller |first1=S. J. |last2=Wooller |first2=R. D. |last3=Brown |first3=K. L. |title=Regeneration by three species of ''Banksia'' on the south coast of Western Australia in relation to fire interval |journal=Australian Journal of Botany |volume=50 |issue=3 |year=2002 |pages=311–317 |doi=10.1071/BT01078 }}</ref> Many fires near urban areas are caused by arson, and thus the frequency is often much higher than fires would have been prior to human habitation. Furthermore, residents who live in areas near bushland may pressure local councils to burn areas near homes more frequently, to reduce fuel-load in the bush and thus reduce ferocity of future fires. Unfortunately there are often discrepancies in agreed frequency between these groups and conservation groups.