Changing Fires Mean Changing Forests
Blog By: Grace McLeod Check out Contributing Bloggers for Bio Figure 1: Early regeneration just two weeks after a wildfire. Photo: Grace McLeod Standing under the towering pines, it's hard to believe there was a wildfire here just a couple weeks ago. The needles of the lower tree branches are scorched brown, and the smell of wet charcoal sits heavy in the humid air after last night's rain, but the black ground is scattered with tufts of bright green grass almost as tall as my ash-scuffed boots. It’s amazing how fast fire-dependent ecosystems start to recover! The pine forests of the southeastern US have evolved with frequent fire (Figure 1). Many of the species of plants and animals depend on the regular disturbance, and without it, the open pine forests, which are highly endangered and host incredible biodiversity, will start to change to denser, more hardwood dominated systems. I talk to people all the time who have lived in Florida their whole lives and had no idea wild