FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Pinus sylvestris | Scots Pine 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Scots pine forests in Sweden are rated as fire-prone and appear to
require repeated fire for their maintenance [15].  In general, pine
forests in Europe (particularly Scots pine forests) which were always
fire-prone have become even more flammable with the advent of fire
exclusion and the discontinuance of the practice of litter collection
for use as animal bedding material, fuel, etc. [26].

In Sweden, Scots pine dominates forests that have burned with a mean
fire interval of 46 years from approximately 1,100 A.D. to the present.
In some areas, the mean fire interval is as short as 30 years, although
the impact of fire has been greatly reduced in the last 100 years with
fire suppression [59].  A fire return interval ranging from 26 to 146
years was calculated for Scots pine/heather forests in eastern Finland
[48].  In the taiga of northern China, the fire cycle for Scots pine
forests was estimated at 130 years [50].

The number of years between fires decreased in areas where Scots pine
basal area increased in Muddus National Park, Sweden.  In this area,
Scots pine often predominates at the lower elevations where fire is
more common and is replaced by Norway spruce at the higher elevations
where fire is less frequent [15].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Tree without adventitious-bud root crown
   Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)

Related categories for Species: Pinus sylvestris | Scots Pine