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11 - Fire

from Part II - Succession by Disturbance Type

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2020

Karel Prach
Affiliation:
University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic
Lawrence R. Walker
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Summary

Fire represents one of the most heterogeneous disturbances that we consider. Fires differ greatly in their intensity, frequency, and spatial extent. We consider here only intense fires where most aboveground biomass is consumed by fire. We focus on succession after a single fire and consider repeated fires as initiating separate seres. However, the frequency of fire in the past and the fire return interval (McKenzie et al., 2011) are important factors that influence the course of succession by altering local and regional species pools (Settele et al., 1996) and local site conditions (Johnstone & Chapin, 2006). Succession in ecosystems that are fire adapted differs from those that are not (Johnson, 1995) because in the former, there are species adapted to either survive the fire in situ or easily colonize the site immediately after the fire. Ecosystem adaptations to fires can occur over millions of years (Korasidis et al., 2016). Post-fire succession is usually considered as a type of secondary succession (Walker & del Moral, 2003), but in the case of highly intense fires where all biological components, including litter and humus layer, are burned, the recovery approaches primary succession.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Fire
  • Karel Prach, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic, Lawrence R. Walker, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Book: Comparative Plant Succession among Terrestrial Biomes of the World
  • Online publication: 08 May 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108561167.014
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  • Fire
  • Karel Prach, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic, Lawrence R. Walker, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Book: Comparative Plant Succession among Terrestrial Biomes of the World
  • Online publication: 08 May 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108561167.014
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Fire
  • Karel Prach, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic, Lawrence R. Walker, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Book: Comparative Plant Succession among Terrestrial Biomes of the World
  • Online publication: 08 May 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108561167.014
Available formats
×