Wildfires

Check out this article about the extremely high number of wildfires that occurred in 2012.

"Records maintained by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) show that more than 9.1 million acres had burned as of November 30, 2012. That’s the third highest total in a record that dates back to 1960."

This is especially interesting because of the cycle of Ecological succession  that a wildfire triggers. "Ecological succession (according to wikipedia) is the observed process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The community begins with relatively few pioneering plants and animals and develops through increasing complexity until it becomes stable or self-perpetuating as a climax community. It is a phenomenon or process by which an ecological community undergoes more or less orderly and predictable changes following disturbance or initial colonization of new habitat.

Wildfires are one of the main causes of disturbance that restarts the process pf succession. On Hawaii new lava flows that burn, and pour new rock over the terrain is a common type of succession.

More on Pioneer Plants later!