A forest engulfed in flames, chipmunks, birds, and various creatures running their lives from the fire. All of a sudden Bambi’s dad gets him up and they run the way out. Disney’s Bambi hints toward a quite real effect of wildfires. There is habitat loss, organismal death, and loss of plant life. They either survive with nowhere to return, without the resources they need, or they perish in the flames. What no one thinks about is the other side of these fires. The life that comes from them. New life, new habitats, and a new niche can appear!
That new life and niches are what become a biodiverse habitat. What is biodiversity? Well, it is not just an oasis; it can come from disaster, just like a wildfire. It is believed that the right sized wildfire for the area will maintain that ecosystem’s long-term health (National Geographic Society, 2026). However, managing those fires could save a different ecosystem too (Abraham, 2023)!
Nutrients like the food we eat! No, not exactly… In science, nutrients are chemical substances that run living things. It allows plants to grow, children to play, cheetahs to run, and so much more. In the plant world, nutrients are found in soil and water their roots use. The animal kingdom does this via consumption, known as food to us. The main nutrients majority of plants need is carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and for the human body we have “Essential nutrients” known as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. National Geographic Society, 2024). All of these nutrients and more make their way into the environment and often there can be a buildup or deficit and naturally or human made. All these scenarios contribute to the biodiversity of the health of the environment. As it is said, too much or not enough of something could be bad.
This is majorly prevalent where natural disasters happen, in this case wildfires, are predominately in the western US within this instance of research. A natural disaster itself is a destructive event that comes suddenly as an act from the natural earth.
Wildfires can promote biodiversity or ruin it. The real question is how we know what would influence this is the right direction or not. It leads to thoughts of human places within nature and how they affect biodiversity.
Nutrients show up in the ecosystems after a burn by turning plant material or animal remains into ash as fertilizer for the environment. This is important because it allows the burned space to take advantage of the plant material being burned out to refurbish the soil underneath it. The nutrient levels in the soil have a high chance of getting higher after a fire because of this.
This can be researched by scientists by counting the species in the area who return to the recovering area, how the plant life is growing in coverage, and doing soil sample tests to see what levels of different nutrients are in the composition.
There is short term negative from all wildfires, young or elderly animals are unable to escape, as wildfires can extremely move fast and encircle wildlife before they escape. Additionally, wildfires can destroy animal’s habitats as they burn away shelter, dry up streams, and kill off the ecosystems they depend on. The only recourse left to animals unable to weather a fire is fleeing, often into human areas like neighborhoods and towns.
To survive fires, many animals hide in the ground by burrowing, under logs and rocks or even standing in streams. These animals are fighting for their lives, and they must do it or the disaster itself will take them out.
On the other hand, there are species who need fire for seeds to release. This is a confusing concept because wouldn’t the seeds just burn? In most plants seeds need to go through some sort of period before seeds produce roots, either via freeze periods in the winter or acidifying the seeds by some sort of natural combination. These plants dependent on the fire are not so different; fire is just what it needs. (Pausas & Keeley, 2019) Additionally, the burnt down plants open the area and remove coverage from above and to the soil, so access to sunlight will increase the support for the ecosystem’s comeback. (Pausas & Keeley, 2019) Even micro wildfires can aid in biodiversity by giving microhabitats for smaller species like insects or decomposers like fungi to take advantage of the nutrient level increase. (Kelly et al., 2020)
There is a change that in the short time animals run from fires, non-native species can take charge of the land before their return. They risk ruining how the ecosystem operates and kill off species of the area and have overflowing population.
Where do humans lie in this situation? We can promote or ruin environments by chance of surviving by stopping or causing fires. There can be some fire suppression techniques that cause overgrowth and ending in an eventual more intense burn in the future. Additionally, we cause forest fires by camping fires, electrical and smoking. We also move species to manage certain populations, but as non-natives it is possible for them to become invasive and continue to threaten the biodiversity of the ecosystem by running rampant. Finally, we continue to urbanize leading to closer contact with nature, just increasing potential for fire increasingly each day. We help as well! We have controlled burns by humans to manage healthy populations of plants, and reforestation, and habitation restoration efforts are key in fires that are too grand to make a comeback.
At the end of the day, wildfires are a mixed bag and the balance involving them matters. Not every fire is going to help the environment, so it is inspiring that we can take part in recovery as the evolved species. We can save so many animals or plants that were at risk; we can get future Bambis out of that situation by keeping ourselves educated on safe fire practices and partake in the betterment of our environment.
References
National Geographic Society. (2026, July 10). Wildfires. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/wildfires/
Abraham, C. (2023, September 9). Large herbivores can help prevent massive wildfires. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/large-herbivores-can-help-prevent-massive-wildfires/
National Geographic Society. (2024, November 18). Nutrient. National Geographic Education. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/nutrient/
Pausas, J. G., & Keeley, J. E. (2019). Wildfires as an ecosystem service. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 17(5), 289–295. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2044
Kelly, L. T., Giljohann, K. M., Duane, A., Aquilué, N., Archibald, S., Batllori, E., Bennett, A. F., Buckland, S. T., Canelles, Q., Clarke, M. F., Fortin, M.-J., Hermoso, V., Herrando, S., Keane, R. E., Lake, F. K., McCarthy, M. A., Morán-Ordóñez, A., Parr, C. L., Pausas, J. G., … Brotons, L. (2020). Fire and biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Science, 370(6519), 929–938. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb0355
Pausas, J. G., & Keeley, J. E. (2019). Wildfires as an ecosystem service. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 17(5), 289–295. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2044
