Fire Ecology

Fire is a key ecological process within most southern ecosystems. Before Native Americans arrived, lightning-ignited fires were the predominant disturbance type modifying community structure and composition. These fires are presumed to have burned mainly in the spring and summer thunderstorm season when lightning strikes are most frequent. Native Americans increased both the frequency and season of this natural fire regime- extending the fire season into the dormant months. The chronic lightning and Native American fires combined with periodic high-intensity wind- or high severity drought-driven fires created a wide range in potential plant and animal responses. Coupled with elevation and moisture gradients, the result was an amazing diversity of fire-adapted communities. From the Everglades of Florida to the Table Mountain pine forests of the Southern Appalachians, these communities require periodic fire to maintain their structure and diverse species assemblages. Intermixed with these fire-adapted ecosystems are fire-sensitive communities with historically long intervals between fires.

We have learned much in the past several decades about how fire affects plants and animals within each of these systems as well as how prescribed fire can be used in their management. The following sections, organized by fire regime type, summarize the fire ecology and management of 25 communities in the southeastern United States.

	Distribution				Fire regime type
Community	CP	P	SA	OZ	Understory	Mixed	Stand-replacement
Longleaf pine	x	x	x		1-4
Slash pine	x				3-8
Loblolly pine	x	x	x	x	3-10
Shortleaf pine	x	x	x	x	1-18	2-50	>100
Oak savannas	x	x	x	x	2-14
Pond cypress communities	x				3-100
Oak-hickory		x	x	x	< 35
Xeric oak-pine		x	x	x	< 35
Pond pine	x				(3-10)	3-150
Shrub bogs	x					3-50
Pocosins	x					5-50
Pitch and Virginia Pine		x	x	x		10-35
Mixed mesophytic hardwoods		x	x	x		35-200, >200
Northern hardwoods			x			> 1000
Saltwater marshes	x
Freshwater marshes	x						1-10
Isolated herbaceous wetlands	x						1-10
Florida Dry Prairie	x						2-5
Cane brakes	x	x	x	x			<35
Florida Scrub (incl. sand pine)	x						13-50
Grassy and heath balds			x				5-20
Table Mountain pine			x			5-20	35-200, >200
Spruce-fir forest			x				35-200, >200
Highlighted systems:
Everglades	x					var
Melaleuca swamp	x					var
Distribution: CP = Coastal Plain, P = Piedmont, OZ = Ozarks/Ouachita, SA = Southern Appalachians