Fire adaptations
For example, plants of the genus Eucalyptus contain flammable oils that encourage fire and hard sclerophyll leaves to resist heat and drought, ensuring their dominance over less fire-tolerant species.
[1][2] Dense bark, shedding lower branches, and high water content in external structures may also protect trees from rising temperatures.
Smoke, charred wood, and heat can stimulate the germination of seeds in a process called serotiny.
High temperature cuts the water supply to the canopy and causes the death of the tree[citation needed].
[6] Under the protection of bark, living tissue won't have direct contact with fire and the survival rate of plants will be increased.
Self-pruning branches can reduce the chance for surface fire to reach the canopy because ladder fuels are removed.
[8] Buds can turn active and grow due to environmental stress such as fire or drought.
[10][11] In case the stem was damaged by a fire, buds will sprout forming basal shoots.
This trait can be found in conifer genera in both the northern and southern hemispheres as well as in flowering plant families (e.g., Banksia).
[6] Many species persist in a long-lived soil seed bank, and are stimulated to germinate via thermal scarification or smoke exposure.
Species with very high wind dispersal capacity and seed production often are the first arrivals after a fire or other soil disturbance.
The fire regime exerts a strong filter on which plant species may occur in a given locality.
Pine trees, for example, can produce flammable litter layers, which help them to take advantage during the completion with other, less fire adapted, species.
[16] Chamise deadwood litter is low in water content and flammable, and the shrub quickly sprouts after a fire.
[17] Sequoia rely on periodic fires to reduce competition, release seeds from their cones, and clear the soil and canopy for new growth.
[18] Caribbean Pine in Bahamian pineyards have adapted to and rely on low-intensity, surface fires for survival and growth.
In habitats with regular surface fires, similar species developed traits such as thick bark and self-pruning branches.
For example, El Niño-induced surface fires in central Brazilian Amazonia have seriously affected the habitats of birds and primates.
[6] An example of animals' uses of fires is the black kite, a carnivorous bird which can be found globally.
In monsoonal areas of north Australia, surface fires are said to spread, including across intended firebreaks, by burning or smoldering pieces of wood or burning tufts of grass carried - potentially intentionally - by large flying birds accustomed to catch prey flushed out by wildfires.
