Fires create necessary mosaics in forested areas. – Different plant communities are necessary to maintain biological diversity.
Wouldn’t it be a boring place if we all looked alike? Ditto for the forests and woodlands. Different plants and animals rely on different types of vegetation. However, some trees can adapt to many different conditions and can quickly grow too dense or provide too much canopy, out-competing other types of vegetation. Wouldn’t it be a boring world if all the trees looked alike?
Fires create mosaics, or areas of differing plant types. Meadows and meadow edges are maintained by fire, productive mixed vegetation types are dependent on fire, and different age classes of plants are also the result of periodic fire.
Fires help maintain healthy grasslands, brushlands, and forests, while increasing the diversity of the birds and mammals that live there.
Fires Create Mosaics
To view a short, 45 second motion video showing a partially burned area, you can choose from two movie file sizes;
This video uses a glide cam to walk through a partially burned area. Natural fire moves through an area, but typically leaves ‘islands’ of unburned and burned vegetation, creating mosaics.
