Fire ecology

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Fire ecology provided by OpenLearn is a comprehensive online course, which lasts for 4 hours worth of material. Upon completion of the course, you can receive an e-certificate from OpenLearn. The course is taught in Englishand is Free Certificate. Visit the course page at OpenLearn for detailed price information.

Overview
  • This course explores the role of fire as a natural disturbance in ecosystems. It introduces the concept of a fire regime and its influence on the type and distribution of organisms that occur in ...

Syllabus
    • Introduction
    • Learning outcomes
    • 1 Fire as a natural disturbance
    • 1 Fire as a natural disturbance
    • 1.1 The effects of fire on an ecosystem
    • 1.2 Fire dependant ecosystems
    • 1.3 Fire regimes
    • 1.4 Fire severity
    • 1.5 Fire frequency
    • 2 Adaptation of plants in fire-prone ecosystems
    • 2 Adaptation of plants in fire-prone ecosystems
    • 2.1 Thick bark
    • 2.2 Sprouting from insulated buds
    • 2.3 Fire-stimulated seed release
    • 2.4 Fire-stimulated seed germination from seed banks
    • 2.5 Fire-stimulated flowering
    • 3 The response of animals to fire
    • 3 The response of animals to fire
    • 3.1 Avoiding fire
    • 3.2 Benefitting from fire
    • 3.3 Morphological traits for detecting fire
    • 4 Fire, habitat complexity and biodiversity
    • 4 Fire, habitat complexity and biodiversity
    • 4.1 Fire and ecological succession
    • 4.2 The intermediate disturbance hypothesis
    • 4.3 The pyrodiversity-biodiversity hypothesis
    • 5 Climate change and fire ecology
    • 5 Climate change and fire ecology
    • Conclusion
    • Glossary
    • References
    • Acknowledgements