Wildfires’ Effect on Living Species
By: Laura Wright
Tags: Climate Change, Plants, Wildfires, Animals

Alexis Ensminger

Wildfires are happening all over and having different types of effects of different things. One of the main harmful effects is species. Different types of species, animals, plants, and more are being hurt due to these fires. Wildfires aren’t just bad things; they can have a good effect on living species too. Habitats, smoke inhalation, oxygen loss and much more are damaging the planet and hurting different types of living organisms while most of the time, the animals get away and stay safe, without a home.

The biggest effect that happens to animals when a wildfire happens is that they lose their habitat, and food is more scarce. A lot of animals don’t die when it comes to forest fires due to them leaving when it gets close. In c “Wildfire and Wildlife Habitat,” Barkley states that “When large animal mortality does occur, it is usually from smoke inhalation in very large, very fast-moving fires.” In “What Do Wild Animals Do in a Wildfire?”, Kielinski writes that young and small animals are particularly at risk in a wildfire: “And some of their strategies for escape might not work — a koala’s natural instinct to crawl up into a tree, for example, may leave it trapped.”

In “How Does a Forest Fire Benefit Living Things,” Dove says, “Although some animals become injured or die from forest fires, most survive.” Dove also states that animals can smell fire from miles away, giving them enough time to get out of their homes and get somewhere safe or bury in the ground to be safe. Dove writes that while fires can destroy the homes for some species, they also benefit other species, like insects, by giving them food and nutrients. There is a specific type of beetle that waits for forest fires, using heat sensors to come in from miles away to eat injured trees.

Dove states that another benefit to wildfires and plant life is that when the old plants burnt down, the ground will then have thicker vegetation and nutrient-rich soil. Further, “The shrubs and grasses fertilized by fire-created nutrients will grow lushly; soon, deer and other grazing wildlife (even mice) will make a meal of them.” A few years later, after the forest has grown back, animals will then start to move back in and make the forest a home again.

“I want to go home.”

Barkley notes that depending on vegetation type, the nutritional content and digestibility of plants can temporarily increase, and Kielinski notes that “A year-old forest will have a different set of plants and animals living in it than a forest that’s 40 years old.” A forest fire can serve like a reset button letting old plant types die down and newer, fresher plants with more nutrients set in to help the earth and other animals. Kielinski states that forest fires can also help fungus spread. Some organisms can’t reproduce without fire.

Forest fires are a major problem in the world right now but the earth has them for a reason. Manmade fires or not, they spread to help the earth become healthier and help the animals. When a forest grows back from a forest fire, everything is more sturdy and holds more nutrients for different types of species. Forest fires aren’t just a bad thing, and most of the time, plant life is the only thing that dies because of a forest fire.