Role of Fire on Forest Ecosystem

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Role of Fire on Forest Ecosystem
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
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Executive summary
This report presents a discussion about the fire ecology and its role in the forest ecosystem. Fire
ecology refers to the system of interactions between fire and the biotic and abiotic components of
an ecosystem. The earth is composed of numerous interdependent ecosystems and fire ecology is
one such system that affects the process or mechanisms of the ecosystems. Fire ecology is very
important for the growth of the forest ecosystem. In this report, the importance of fire ecology,
and impacts of human induced and natural fire on the forest ecosystem have been discussed,
followed by the incidences of forest loss and their effects.

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Table of Contents
Introduction and background context..............................................................................................3
Discussion: Fire ecology and forest ecosystem...............................................................................4
Importance of fire ecology on the forest ecosystem....................................................................7
Response of plants and abiotic factors to fire..............................................................................9
Effects of man-made or severe natural forest fire on the plant diversity...................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction and background context
Fire ecology is a very important scientific phenomenon or discipline in the forest science
and in the perspective of environment conservation. The natural processes involving fire in an
ecosystem and the ecological effects that it casts on the interactions between fire and the biotic
and abiotic elements of the ecosystem is defined as a fire ecology (Pyne, 2010). Fire is an
essential factor for establishing habitat vitality and the rejuvenation of ecosystems, such as,
prairie, chaparral, various types of forests and savanna. All these ecosystems require fire for
germinating or reproducing new plant species, on which the animal habitants are dependent. As
defined by National Geographic Society, ecosystem is the geographic region in which animals,
plants, and all other organisms along with the landscape and weather come together to form a
way of life (Nationalgeographic.org, 2019). Thus, ecosystems include biotic (living), such as,
plants, animals and organisms, and abiotic (non-living) parts, such as, temperature, soil, rocks,
humidity etc. and their interactions and the outcomes of those interactions create a way of living
with certain characteristics. There is interdependence among every factor in an ecosystem, such
as, temperature plays a significant role on the plants grow in that region and the features of the
animals live there. Different ecosystems depend on different rejuvenating or habitat element,
such as, the marine ecosystem is dependent on water and the animals and plants and other
organisms in this ecosystem will perish without water. Similarly, fire ecology includes those
plants species that require the natural process of forest fire to germinate or reproduce, and a large
lot of animals living on that forest region rely on those particular plants for their living
(Fdacs.gov, 2019). Forests in different climatic zones of the world have different characteristics,
such as the Tundra forests, temperate rainforests, such as, Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National
Park of the USA, Amazon tropical rainforest, or the desert plants, such as, cactus, and all these

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regions contain several small and large interdependent ecosystems. It can be said that entire
surface of the earth consists of numerous connected ecosystems having different characteristics
(Koltz et al., 2018). In a fire based ecosystem, characteristics of fire and its way of interacting
with the ecosystem play a significant role in their existence. Fire is highly important for plant
mortality and it helps to rejuvenate the forest ecosystem. In many protected forest areas across
the world, controlled man-made fire is introduced to facilitate new growth of the plants and for
the birth of new plant species. For example, in the coniferous forests, fire is required for the
cones to release their seeds into the grounds so that new plants can take birth (Pausas, 2015).
This report will present an in-depth analysis and evaluation of the fire ecology, consisting of the
different forms, causes and nature of the ecology, its effect on the forest ecosystem, which is
heavily dependent on fire ecology and its importance for conservation of the environment on a
wider scale. A critical discussion on different aspects of fire ecology will be followed by
important findings and concluding remarks on the system.
Discussion: Fire ecology and forest ecosystem
Fire is a very significant natural force in the forest environment. Fire has played a very
crucial role in shaping the history of earth and also the nature of life on the earth. As highlighted
by Koltz et al. (2018), fire is enormously influential in determining the nature of various
ecosystems and their inter-dependencies. It is mostly important for the forest ecosystem and has
a direct impact on the oxygen supply in the environment. Oxygen started to accumulate in the
atmosphere almost 2 billion years ago and the appearance of plant around 400 million years ago,
that is, in the Devonian era, provided fuel, which marked the record for fossil charcoal for more
than 350 years. This indicates that the forest provided the combustion for terrestrial evolution of
the plant (Bond & Keane, 2017).

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Fire ecology has different aspects, which play different roles depending on the specific
objectives under land management, in combination with a wide range of environment variables.
Sometimes fire destroys the ecosystems of a particular region, while sometimes it is beneficial
for the same ecosystems, and it has been observed that most often the impacts of fire combines
mixed effect of destruction and regeneration of the variables in a particular ecosystem (Wilkin,
Ackerly & Stephens, 2016). Maximum effect of fire is mostly seen in the forest ecosystem. As
stated by Jonsson et al. (2019), forest ecosystem can be defined as the natural woodland unit
containing numerous plants, animals and billions of micro-organisms, knows as the biotic
elements, function together with the numerous non-living or abiotic factors of that region. Hence,
it can be said that a forest ecosystem comprises of a large community of different living and non-
living factors in a terrestrial atmosphere, which is dominated by the trees in a closed canopy,
known as forest. All the organisms existing in the forest ecosystem are interdependent on each
other for their survival and are classified as per their ecological role as creators, consumers and
decomposers (Sciencing.com, 2018). All the forests across the world have their own ecosystem,
which have significant impact on the natural environment of the earth. As highlighted by Zhang,
Chen & Taylor (2016), forest ecosystems are characterized by the wide diversity of the species.
The more complex structure, the more is the diversity of the species and a forest ecosystem
comprises of highly diversified elements, such as, plants, soil, animals, water bodies, insects and
man, that work together with the physical and chemical features of the non-living components.
Some of the major forest ecosystems are the Amazon Rain Forest, Tundra forests in the Arctic
zone, tropical forests etc.
Fire is one of the major components that destroys as well as enriches the forest
ecosystem. Fdacs.gov (2019) highlighted in their publication that for environmental