Different types of fires will have different ecosystems. Forest fires are considerably different to shrubland and grassland fires. It’s important to understand the different ecosystems to know what comes from the fires afterward. This also helps to understand the fires during them. The Severity of the Fires Fires burn with different severities and intensities. Mild to moderate fires will burn on the understory, removing the ground cover. This is usually the small trees and herbaceous plants that will grow back quickly afterward. High-severity fires will burn through the crowns of the trees. These types of fires kill the dominant vegetation. These types of fires can run in two different ways. Some will require the ground fuels and others will grow

Humans have made some major changes to ecosystems around the world. Restoration ecology is needed to reverse some of the problems and mitigate others. One of the tools used is controlled burning. It can seem odd that fire is used as a management tool in ecosystems. After all, we hear all about the forest fires around the world and how dangerous they can be. Yet, it’s because of some of the issues humans have created that the forest fires are becoming so dangerous. Small, managed fires can help the situation. There is a debate over how fires should be used. Should they encourage the ecosystems to return to pre-European inventions or should they go back to pre-human ecosystems? Creating Habitats