ENVS195 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Ecosystem Services, National Development Policy, Buffer Zone
23 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
In the first half of the twentieth century, it was believed that vegetation would reach a well-defined, stable stage called the climax community: this final successional stage was believed to be in equilibrium with the environment. In the second part of the twentieth century it became clear that equilibrium conditions are rare: disturbances are so common that most systems never reach a dynamically stable climax stage. In certain areas, fire is a frequent occurrence and necessary to the reproduction of forest tree species. Forest management strategies that reduce the incidence of fires allow for accumulation of fuel, increasing forest fire risk, fires will be bigger: wildfire: term for uncontrolled fires fuelled by natural vegetation, forest fires are trees and organic matter. Speed of wildfire travel: fires start in hot, dry, windy weather, there is a point of ignition, embers are blown ahead of fire front through wind, spot fires tart where embers land.
