Environmental Science Report: The Vital Role of Fire in Forest Health

This report provides an in-depth analysis of fire ecology and its crucial role in forest ecosystems. It discusses the importance of fire for habitat vitality, rejuvenation, and the germination of new plant species. The report covers the different types of fires, including ground, surface, and crown fires, and their varying impacts on the forest ecosystem. It also addresses the effects of both natural and human-induced fires, highlighting the consequences of fire suppression and the implications for biodiversity, carbon emissions, and human health. The report emphasizes the need to recognize ecological interrelationships and manage natural resources sustainably for the greater good, while also acknowledging the potential for destructive uses of fire for urbanization and business gains. The Yellowstone National Park fire of 1988 is presented as a case study, illustrating the significant impact of wildfires on forest ecosystems and the importance of understanding fire ecology.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Role of Fire on Forest Ecosystem
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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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

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sustainability, it is better to complement the natural systems of life rather than to manipulate the
systems for the gain from specific purposes. Thus, it is highly important to recognize the
ecological interrelationships and manage the natural resources for the greater good. Ignorance of
such ecological interrelationships can lead to substantial irreversible damage to the environment.
It holds true for the fire ecology also. While fire facilitates the rejuvenation of forests, it can also
be used for causing major destruction to the forest for the purpose of urbanization, and business
gains, as observed in the recent instance of Amazon Rainforest fire. Hence, not all forest fires are
natural and those caused by human beings for their own interest are extremely harmful for the
environment (Yoon et al., 2015).
Fire ecology consists of fire regime, which refers to the incidence of multiple fires
governed by the combined impacts of the climate, properties of fuel and frequency of ignition
(Esa.org, 2012). It is commonly defined by type of fire, mean and variance in the fire frequency,
severity, intensity, pattern, season and areal extent of a burn. There are three types of fires,
namely, ground fires, surface fires and crown fires, and mixed fire regimes consist of surface and
crown fires, which vary in severity (Hutto et al., 2016). The ground fires happen mostly in the
organic soils and can be highly destroying, damaging the roots and altering the soil properties
entirely. Crown fires are high severity fires and those are mostly observed in the low productivity
forest ecosystem, such as, North American boreal forests and Mediterranean-type shrub lands.
The surface fires are mostly witnessed in the forests and woodlands having much litter on the
ground surface. These fires consume herbaceous fuels, which predominate the savannas and
grasslands with high productivity, and can occur annually or at sub-annual intervals (Westerling,
2016). Crown fires produce enormous stand-replacing fires and active suppression of fires in
many parts of the world has resulted in the growth of young trees and bushes, which

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accumulated the surface fuels, acting as bridging fuels that turn the surface fires to crown fires
with much severe damaging consequences (Hutto et al., 2016). Furthermore, the severity of fire
is highly variable as it depends on the weather, wind conditions during the burn and the pre-burn
condition of vegetation. Hence, fires can break out in any season and this seasonal timing can
result in significant changes in the composition of the species and the structure of forest
ecosystem. Similarly, the level and growth of flammable vegetation and habitat fragmentation
have strong influence on the spread of fires (Westerling, 2016).
Importance of fire ecology on the forest ecosystem
Forest fires are often known as wildfires. These fires can occur naturally and have
significant roles in the forest ecosystem. Natural environmental phenomenon, such as, lightning
strikes can also cause forest fires. The wild fires are natural component of forest ecosystems.
These occur at regular intervals depending on the types of trees, level and growth of flammable
vegetation, climate, type of soil and moisture content in the vegetation and environment (Seidl et
al., 2017). It is often found that the natural forest fires are generally started by lightning strike
during the warm and dry seasons that range from the snowmelt period in the spring through the
season of fall. These wildfires result in clearing out the old, lifeless and decaying vegetation and
the old vegetation is recycled into new growth continuously. Sometimes the natural fire is
suppressed and that results in a build-up fuel. Over the years, accumulation of more and more
fuels set the stage for catastrophic events, as happened in the Yellowstone National Park in 1988
(Kwak-Hefferan, 2019). In the summer of 1988, the Yellowstone National Park experienced one
of the largest fire events in the American history, which burnt more than 30% of the total park
acreage. Around 1.2 million acres in the greater Yellowstone area was burnt, which included
793,000 acres of the total 2,221,800 acres of the park (Kwak-Hefferan, 2019). The fire not only

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had significant impact on the forest ecosystem of the park, but also changed people’s idea about
the importance of fire ecology on the forest ecosystems.
The wildfires have different types of implications for the biological diversity in the forest
ecosystem. On one hand, the wildfires are a significant source of carbon emission, which
contributes in the global warming (Turetsky et al., 2015). This has a severe impact on the
alteration of biodiversity. At the local level, the wildfires result in changes in the stock of
biomass, alteration in the hydrological cycle affecting the marine diversity, and generation of
heavy smokes affecting the health of humans and animals living the surrounding areas. One
recent example of the forest smoke affecting the human is witnessed in Brazil, where the fire
smoke of the Amazon rainforest was reaching cities 2000 miles away and affecting people’s
health (Rosen, 2019). It has also been noticed that burning of a region increases the probability
of subsequent burning as the burnt trees topple on the ground, exposing the forest for drying by
the sunlight and depositing the fuel load through fire-prone elements, such as, the pyrophytic
grasses. The result of repeated burning is found to be detrimental for the environment and forest
ecosystem, as it is one of the major factors in causing impoverishment of the biodiversity,
especially in the rainforest ecosystems. The wildfires are often followed by colonization of
insects and infestation that cause disruptions in the ecological balance. Such detrimental effects
on the forest ecosystems have been experienced in the tropical rainforests of Indonesia and
Amazon where vast forest areas were replaced by pyrophytic grasses (Feurdean et al., 2017).
On the other hand, the forest fires have helped many forests across the world to evolve
significantly. In this mechanism, the fire disturbances were utilized naturally for maintaining the
health of the forest ecosystem and regenerating new plant species. As highlighted by van
Wagtendonk (2018), there are variety of plant species, which require fire for germinating their

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seeds and grow new plants. The forest fires also return the important nutrients into the forest soil
which were being stored in the biomass. At the same time, the forest fires are beneficial for
clearing out the dead wood and leaves and provide the soil nutrition, which could support the
next generation of plants. To keep the forest ecosystem healthy, this process is important. Seidl
et al. (2017) also provided an insight regarding the habitats in a forest ecosystem. It has been
seen that the burned forests provide habitation for variety of species, such as, the Black-backed
Woodpecker (Stillman et al., 2019).
Thus, forest fires lead to a process of change, called the ecological succession. This
implies that the forest ecosystem undergoes a series of changes and with time, it transforms into
a developed and mature forest again. Pausas & Keeley (2019) also highlighted that not only
catastrophic fire, the smaller scale, periodic fires also have positive impacts on various types of
habitats. As wildfires are beneficial for clearing out the overgrown and old vegetation and
returning the nutrients back into the soil, the changed ecosystem also helps the plant and animal
species to evolve according to the changed environment. For instance, the jack pine trees and the
black spruce trees are considered to be fire dependent plant species, whose cones open with only
high temperatures, typically generated through fire and then release their seeds required for
regeneration of those plant species (Esa.org, 2012). The 1988 fire in Yellowstone National Park
had helped the major forest area to rejuvenate and many new plant species were discovered in
the subsequent years, which enriched the biodiversity of that region.
Response of plants and abiotic factors to fire
As highlighted by Pausas (2019), the plants and animals have different response
strategies to fire. However, the change of characteristics is mostly found among the plants. The
plants and animals take adaptive strategies’ to cope up with the changed habitat after a fire event.

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For example, in Southern California, in the Chaparral communities, some plants are found to
have flammable oils as coatings on the leaves encouraging intense fire, as the fire-generated heat
causes the seeds to germinate and as the soil gets nutrient after a fire, the young plants can utilize
the benefits of the burnt landscape. Similarly, the fire-intolerant plant species get completely
burnt in fire and these type of species evolve to become fire-tolerant over time if the landscape is
too much fire prone (Figueira et al., 2016). The fire-tolerant species are often known as
resprouters. For example, it has been observed that the Mountain Grey Gum tree produces mass
of shoots of leaves, from the base to the top of the trunk, after Australian bushfire (Foster et al.,
2018). There are fire resistant plants also. For example, the mature ponderosa pine tree does not
suffer from crown damage due to natural mild fire.
In case of the abiotic components, soil gets affected maximum due to fire regimes. The
impact on soils depends on the level of temperature generated. The nutrients in the soil gets
changed due to mechanisms like oxidation, erosion, volatilization, and leaching by the water, and
the heat must be extreme to get the nutrients completely damaged (Kerns & Day, 2017).
However, it is mostly observed that the nutrients are increased due to the deposits of ashes and
decomposition of microbes and other organisms and release of nitrogen, and calcium carbonates.
The pH balance of the soil also gets changed sometimes due to fire as it changes the nature of
calcium carbonate to calcium oxide. As stated by Alcañiz et al. (2018), the soils become basic,
that is, contain higher pH after a fire due to combustion of acid. The texture and structure of soil
also get changed sometimes due to fire, which affects the porosity and clay content of the soil.
Effects of man-made or severe natural forest fire on the plant diversity
As the importance of fire ecology on the forest ecosystem has gained wide
acknowledgement, people are also adopting the measures like prescribed fire to enhance the

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biodiversity in the forest areas. Thus, prescribed fire is a planned and controlled one, in which
the forest managers are adopting measures like purposely setting the fire for reducing the fire
load, rejuvenating a stagnant forest area by creating opportunities for new plants to grow and
retuning the soil nutrients or for achieving any business objective. These prescribed fires are
undertaken during most favorable weather conditions along with best safety protocols to achieve
the benefits of the wildfires on the forest ecosystems (Wiener, 2019).
However, prescribed fire also has some major disadvantages especially when it goes out
of control. Urbanization, mining, infrastructure development and agriculture are some major
purposes for which people use fires for deforestation in a controlled manner. This is more
commonly observed in the tropical regions and in many cases, it has been noticed that fire set by
people had gone out of control and damaged more areas than it was supposed to. The
deforestation fires are more common in the disturbed forests and those can vary in intensity.
Thus, in most cases, not only the trees, but the ground also gets damaged in a severe manner,
leaving behind bare soil, not suitable for agricultural purposes (Corace, Weiss & Shartell, 2015).
The practice of prescribed fire is meant for regeneration of the forest ecosystem through
fire ecology. However, in the modern world, people often misuse the prescribed fire option for
their business objectives and that hampers the biodiversity and ecological balance as well as
sustainability. As seen in case of the recent fires in Amazon rainforest burning, a massive
percentage of the biggest rainforest of the world is completely burnt to satisfy the business needs
of human beings. This resulted in a huge loss of the forest areas, which has negative impact on
the environment and the hugely diverse forest ecosystem (Alcañiz et al., 2018).

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(Source: Rosen, 2019)
The above chart depicts the comparison of the areas lost in the Amazon rainforest for the
activities for deforestation. It is seen that within two years, the rate of deforestation from human
activities has been increasing significantly. The most concerning increase occurred in July 2019,
when the rainforest was battling with one of the biggest fire incidents in the recent years. The fire
in Amazon has drawn attention from all over the world due to its massiveness and the losses it
caused to the environment and the forest areas. It has been observed that in every minute of
burning, Amazon lost forest areas worth of a soccer field (Sergent, Lawrence & Petras, 2019).
As Amazon rainforest is a primary component of the planet’s climate system by holding around
a quarter as much carbon as the atmosphere and absorbing around 5% of the total carbon-di-
oxide the mankind emits each year, it is known as the ‘lungs of the earth’. However, due to the
massive rise in the illegal deforestation, the Amazon rainforest is getting damages rapidly and

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the world is moving towards deprivation of a crucial buffer against the climate change (Rosen,
2019).
(Source: Rosen, 2019)
(Source: Rosen, 2019)

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(Source: Sergent, Lawrence & Petras, 2019)
The loss of forests in Brazil alone has become a serious concern in the wake of climate change
issues. The instances of human-induced as well as natural forest fires have increased
significantly, contributing in the forest loss in Brazil. Although the natural fire is important for
the regrowth of forests, yet if the rate of fire is too high the growth cannot happen at the natural
pace and the disbalance in the ecosystem sets in.

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(Source: Magnusson, 2019)
From the data above, it is seen that Brazil has experienced the maximum forest loss from
human-induced fires in 2018-2019 and much of which is the part of the Amazon rainforest.
Climate change has also contributed in the increase in the number of natural wildfires in the
forests. It has a severe consequence on the environmental sustainability and the government of
Brazil has been condemned for not taking enough measures to control the man-made fires in the
Amazon rainforest (Magnusson, 2019).
Thus, it can be said that to rejuvenate the forest ecosystem, prescribed fire mechanism
can be adopted, but that should be monitored and controlled in a strict manner, so that only the
positive impacts on the biodiversity can be achieved and the negative impact of fire can be

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mitigated. Fdacs.gov (2019) also highlights that the fire ecology has some other roles also to play
in the forest ecosystem. For instance, fire helps to maintain a balance in the structure and
composition of the forests and it is highly necessary for sustainability. While some forests
produce as well as accumulate fuels faster, some forests decompose the fuels faster. However, at
a certain point of time, every type of forests becomes ready to burn with the right amount and
quality of fuels to maintain the ecological balance. Thus, reaching the natural fire point is a
system of the forest environment, which requires fire in the right intensity to get its benefit. At
the same time, it is also the duty of the mankind to prevent the uncontrollable burn of the forests
as too much burn can lead to irreversible damage of the natural resources and disturb the balance
in the long run.
Conclusion
As seen from the above discussion, it can be said that the fire ecology is a very important
factor for maintaining the health and balance in the forest ecosystem. The forest ecosystem is
highly dependent on fire for its growth, followed by weather condition, soil, surrounding
habitats, people’s business motives, various animals and organisms etc. On one hand, fire
releases harmful smoke and carbon in the atmosphere by burning forests and contributes in the
global warming, on the other hand, fire helps in releasing nutrients back into the soil,
regenerating certain new plants by helping their cones to open from heat generated from fire and
release the seeds. Fire is also beneficial for ecological succession, that is, the process of
evolution of the plants, animals and other species dependent on the forest ecosystem. With time,
the species change their characteristics to adapt to the new features of the forest that have been
modified due to any fire event. Prescribed fire is also beneficial until it goes out of control.
Hence, to maintain the ecological balance and protect the environment as a measure of

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sustainability, the forest ecosystem should be protected and natural as well as prescribed fire
should be used in a controlled manner to get the benefits of the fire ecology in the forest
ecosystem.

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