What do Florida and New Jersey have in common? They have a need for fires in their ecosystems! That’s right both of the states are home to natural types of ecosystems that use fire to keep out plants that could eventually kick them out of their own home. In New Jersey our Pine trees use fires to their own advantage by quickly populating an area that has been burned. Their seeds are tucked safely away in pinecone that open after extreme heat. So they release their seeds right after a fire, where other trees like oak and maple seeds burn to a crisp. Now the pine seeds can settle first and establish a population before the other types of trees. A cool article about this can be followed here.
In the everglades of Florida, the water from the Kissimmee River and lake Okeechobee flows through the southwestern part of the state. Creating areas covered in water, creating swaths of tall grasses. These grasses like water movement if only slow movement at that. Sometimes trees like mangroves and cypress make their way into the areas, stifling the water flow. Fires from lightning can cause fires that clear out the trees that tried settling in the everglades allowing for the water flow to resume and tall grasses like Sawgrass to take back the area. How fire management helps the different ecosystems is linked here.
That's interesting to know that pinecones open up after fires and repopulate areas quickly. This explains why pine trees are usually the first plants I always see regrowing after fires when driving past burned areas.
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