Fire and Flowers – Issue #95

Hello Explorer,
This past week we had the privilege of going to visit a grassland that burned down about a month before. The area might still look devastated, with black grass stubs, burned sticks that use to be small trees, white millipede rings and snail shells, but there is a lot more than meets the eye.
Since it is about a month after the fire, the grasses have started pushing out new leaves and there are already some flowers of the smaller plant species.
The best part is that most of the plants in the grassland survived the fire, and not just survived it, but have been triggered to start flowering by the fire. Flowers like Eulophia orchids, Tulbachias, and Chocolate bells are all in flower as a response to the fire.

These are all known as fire adapted species. Simply put it means they have adapted to require fire to flower and reproduce. It is very easy to think that the plants respond to the heat of the fire and then flower at a given time after the fire, but there are many more factors that play an important role in triggering the plants to flower.
Some of these other factors are the heat of the fire, the smoke and chemicals therein, the nutrient release, increased sunlight, increase in air movement, and an increase in diurnal temperature range (the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures of the same day). The increased sunlight and air movement, as well as the increase diurnal temperature range is all caused by the removal of the vegetative growth that usually covers the soil. This layer that is removed increases the sunlight that reaches the soil and opens the soil for wind to pass over. The vegetation layer usually buffers the temperature below it to have a much lower diurnal temperature range.
The post fire flowering plants have adapted to flower after a fire due to various reasons. The nutrient release that plays a role in triggering the flowering, also provides the nutrients that are required to produce the flowers. The fire also reduces the competition by clearing out vegetation around the plants and increases the access the post fire flowering plants have to sunlight, water, and nutrients. Another advantage of flowering after a fire is that there are much fewer other flowers in the area, increasing the likelihood of pollinators visiting the plants flowers, this is a great reproductive advantage that the plants gain.
Have you ever thought of the fact that even though a grassland fire might look devastating it is essential for the reproduction of many plants? Did you know that fire plays such an important role in grasslands? Would you like to learn about other ways in which plants have adapted to grassland fires?

If you would like to send me a message with your answers, feel free to do so on Instagram or Twitter @abugmanslife or via email to [email protected].