BIO SCI 55 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Aggradation, Kissimmee River, Nitrogen Fixation
7 Sep 2016
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Fort valley experimental forest in arizona was in trouble due a wildfire. The reason this particular wildfire was so damaging to the forest is because ponderosa forests thrive when they experience natural forest fires. There are usually frequent fires in these forests that tend to clear out younger trees but leave the seed-bearing trees intact. The fires are small because of the limited amount of trees and so they also do not affect the organic material in the soil. The young trees fare better in bright sunlight, not when shaded by larger trees, so forest fires help seeds germinate. A restoration project (that ironically aimed to eliminate trees) was put into progress. However, fire cannot be reintroduced because the amount of trees and organic material in the soil could be destructive enough to kill all of the trees. Researchers had to first thin out the area to produce low-danger fires.
