204 THE STUDY OF PLANT COMMUNITIES • Chapter VIII 



effects, have made it an important factor associated with man's 

 presence. Local small fires occur almost everywhere occasionally, 

 and the destruction of vegetation followed by gradual replace- 

 ment is characteristic. Under the right conditions, fire may be so 

 common as to become a major factor controlling the vegetation of 

 a region. This is true of much of the coastal plain of the south- 



FlG. 97. What fire can do to a mountain forest. Such fires are usually fol- 

 lowed by erosion, and it requires years for the re-establishment of forest 

 vegetation. Coconino National Forest. Ariz.— U. S. Forest Service. 



eastern United States. 105 Prolonged dry periods and little attempt 

 to control fire in these flatlands result in most areas burning almost 

 every year. Only fire-resistant species predominate and only a 

 limited degree of vegetational development is possible before fire 

 occurs again and sets back that development. As a result, grassy 

 savannahs with longleaf pine are characteristic instead of the po- 

 tentially possible hardwood forests. In parts of California, fires 

 have resulted in an increase of the fire-resistant chaparral and a 

 proportionate decrease of forest. Similar illustrations may be 

 found in many parts of the world. 

 The immediate economic loss from an intense forest fire is 



