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Fire ecology is a scientific discipline concerned with the effects of fire on natural ecosystems. [1] Many ecosystems, particularly prairie , savanna , chaparral and coniferous forests , have evolved with fire as an essential contributor to habitat vitality and renewal. [ 2 ]
The fire interval is the number of years between fires and is highly dependent on spatial scales. Fire rotation is a measure of the amount of fire in a landscape (the amount of time required to burn an area the size of the study area). The fire rotation statistic is best used for large areas that have mapped historic fire events. [6]
Some climate change effects: wildfire caused by heat and dryness, bleached coral caused by ocean acidification and heating, environmental migration caused by desertification, and coastal flooding caused by storms and sea level rise. Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an overall ...
Wildfire prevention programs around the world may employ techniques such as wildland fire use (WFU) and prescribed or controlled burns. [120] [121] Wildland fire use refers to any fire of natural causes that is monitored but allowed to burn. Controlled burns are fires ignited by government agencies under less dangerous weather conditions. [122]
However, plants have their own ways to survive a fire event or recover after a fire. The strategies can be classified into three types: resist (above-ground parts survive fire), recover (evade mortality by sprouting), and recruit (seed germination after the fire). Fire plays a role as a filter that can select different fire response traits. [6]
Wildland fire behavior is affected by weather, fuel characteristics, and topography.. Weather influences fire through wind and moisture. Wind increases the fire spread in the wind direction, higher temperature makes the fire burn faster, while higher relative humidity, and precipitation (rain or snow) may slow it down or extinguish it altogether.
Disturbance of a fire can clearly be seen by comparing the unburnt (left) and burnt (right) sides of the mountain range in South Africa. The veld ecosystem relies on periodic fire disturbances like these to rejuvenate itself. In ecology, a disturbance is a temporary change in environmental conditions that causes a pronounced change in an ecosystem.
The notion of fire as a tool had somewhat evolved by the late 1970s as the National Park Service authorized and administered controlled burns. [67] Following prescribed fire reintroduction, the Yellowstone fires of 1988 occurred, which significantly politicized fire management. The ensuing media coverage was a spectacle that was vulnerable to ...