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# 4.1 Fire and ecological succession

Early successional communities establish themselves relatively quickly after a fire (rapid colonisers) while late successional communities establish themselves much later (Figure 21).

Figure 21 Diagrammatic representation of forest succession over time. There is a steady increase in biodiversity, biomass and thickness of soil layer as succession proceeds, i.e. as time passes.

Although fires open up gaps for early successional communities, community composition – the number and diversity of species present – is profoundly affected by the fire regime, and in particular its frequency and/or intensity.

For example, if fires are frequent the community will be dominated by early-succession, opportunistic, fast-colonising, resistant species because species characterising later successional stages will not be able to become established before the next fire.

- What kind of community would be expected if fires are rare?

- The community tends to be dominated by a few highly competitive, late-succession species. These species outcompete earlier-colonising species and can become established before the next fire.

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