Forest Fire

There was a crown forest fire in the forest near Ostersund Sweden after I left. This burned a lot of acres.  Most likely since there are very few lightning storms and there are no volcanoes in the area, the wildfire was caused by humans. This is very unfortunate because the boreal forest was very old and takes a while to grow back. A crown forest fire is a type of wildfire that reaches high places and burns at the tops of the trees and follows a high canopy line.

Crown Forest Fire

(PC: Parks Canada)

Aftermath of a crown forest fire in the U.S Cascades

(PC: Wikipedia)

The fire must have occurred in a very dry time. Usually the soil is pretty waterlogged which makes it easier to prevent wildfires. The plants evapotranspiration must have not been balanced by rainfall. This wildfire must have been devastating because wildfires do not often occur in Sweden, so the plants are less adapted to it. 

(PC: Wikipedia)

Plants in fire-prone areas do have helpful adaptions most of the time. For example the Eucalyptus tree is  well adapted because they contain flammable oils that encourage fire and their hard leaves resist drying out in a drought or heat. This makes them more likely to survive. Some trees also have dense bark and shed lower branches to resist fires. 

Post to this fire the community will begin to rejuvenate. There are some plants that charred wood, smoke and heat cause them to germinate their seeds more. Post-fire soil will be in good conditions because less leave and needle cover will allow water to soak in. The soil will also retain more water at first because plant transpiration will be reduced. However more sunlight can reach the soil which may affect its temperatures. The soil may become more basic after the fire which could be a good thing because normally the soil in boreal forests are very acidic. The plants that generally re-colonize in fire-affected areas are the ones that already had seeds present in the ground or are able to travel in the area quickly. A lot of these plants will have adaptions to be herbaceous which means they thrive in areas with a lot of sunlight. These will later be suppressed as the coniferous and very shady trees regrow back.

(PC: USDA)

The smoke released from this burning can effect the climate by staying in the troposphere and increasing solar radiation absorption during the winter. The particles released from the smoke can also pollute and collect in animals lungs.

If predators escaped the fire such as hawks, they will later have an advantage in hunting. Their advantage will come because there will be less ground-cover to hide their prey. 

(PC: Wikipedia)

This fire would have not effected the ecosystem that much if it wasn't a crown fire. The crown fire however let fire reach heights where it doesn't usually on the pines.

(THIS IS FICTION FOR CLASS....DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAPPEN)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfire
http://www.nwcg.gov/pms/pubs/glossary/c.htm