After the burn

Figure 10. The leaves and stems of wire grass have been burned away, but will soon return. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)

Figure 10 shows the forest after the controlled burn illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. There are now signs of wire grasses here because the stems have been burned, but the roots and rhizomes are alive and well under the soil surface. Look back at Figure 2 to see what this area looked like two months after Figure 10 was taken. The wire grass has not only returned, it has returned in a condition to produce viable seed (Figure 7). The fire has converted vegetative matter to its constituent chemicals and thereby made the nutrients available to the plants. This is an example of the beneficial role of fire in cycling nutrients within the forest.

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