FIRES AND SUCCESSION

***Information and ideas from NTSA***

https://s3.amazonaws.com/nstacontent/tst1104_44.pdf?
AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIMRSQAV7P6X4QIKQ&Expires=1645095805&Signature=tgoKNd7Wjuyg
EFZsemeaqh1ZTuQ%3d

What do you think?

1. Fires kill all of the wildlife in the wetlands. T F
2. Some plants have adapted to survive and thrive with fire. T F
3. Prior to the settlement of North America, lightning caused most fires. T F
4. High-intensity fires are always ecologically destructive and bad. T F
5. When fires occur regularly, the heat sterilizes the soil and kills most of the
plants. T F
6. Some wetlands historically burned as often as every one to three years. T F
7. Many of our wetlands are less healthy because of reduced amounts of fire. T F
8. Fires can increase the diversity of the vegetative landscape and foster a mosaic
of habitats. T F
9. Ecological communities always succeed from grasses to shrubs to trees. T F
10. Fire recycles nutrients. T F

Partner Work (10 minutes - research together):

What is a wetland?
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Tell me what you know about the impacts of fire in southeastern wetland ecosystems
in states such as Florida and Mississippi.
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What happens when fire occurs in these systems?
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Is fire good or bad for ecosystems? Why?
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Does fire naturally occur in a wetland? _______________
Does fire occur in all wetlands? _____________________

Watch videos at links below as a class and discuss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCC6C5U60wA Florida Forest Service:
Wildfire/Prescribed Fire

With your partner, study the charts then answer the questions.
DATA QUESTIONS:
What trends did you observe in the frequency of occurrence data provided in Figure 3?
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Which species exhibits a strong response to fire, based on frequency of occurrence
data? ____________________________________________________________
What is the impact of fire on the flowering response of Curtiss’ sandreed?
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Which species increased in frequency after the fires?
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Which species decreased in frequency after the fires?
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Which species seemed to be little affected by the fires?
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EXTENSION QUESTIONS:
Do you think a catastrophic wetland fire can be beneficial? If so, how? (Make sure you
include what conditions are needed for this type of fire to occur.)
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Why do different species respond differently to fire?
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