California in flames: will Puma survive fire in hell?

A new warning alert warning for fires throw a shadow on the California Already devastated by the flames, even if the firefighters are fighting with courage and achieving important successes. While meteorologists they include impetuous winds and levels of humidity in the beaten for Monday and Tuesdaycreating the ideal conditions for a “particularly dangerous situation”, the wildlife trapped in this hell of fire struggle for survival. Luckily, Palisades’ firewhich has already burned over 9,300 hectares, it is contained at 52%While Eaton’s fire (14,000 acres) It is contained at 81%. But the new weather alarm fears that the situation can escape control again. To worry is also the wildlife which, trapped in this hell of fire, struggle for survival.

“My heart is very heavy right now,” the executive director of the National Wildlife Federation for California, Beth Prattwhich for years has been dedicated to the protection of the Puma of Los Angeles. These felines, which have seen theirs over the years habitat restricting themselves increasingly due to urban expansionare now trapped in the flames, with a few escape routes. “They certainly can’t take refuge in the Kardashian garden,” said Pratt.

Vegetation chaparraltypical of California, it is a mosaic of prairies, shrubs and low trees, evolved to resist the most intense fires. “It is one of the most flammatic ecosystems on the planet“, He explained to the English newspaper Stefan Doerrforest fire expert and professor to Swansea University. “From an ecological long -term perspective, These fires may not be particularly harmful“.

But if the vegetation is adapted to reborn from its ashes, the same cannot be said for all animals. The most vulnerable species are those with a limited area, like frogs with red legsreintroduced with difficulty in the mountains of Santa Monica, and those that. Mammalsalthough being able to escape, risk starving in the following weekswhile the ecosystem recovers.

“It looks like an armagedon,” admits Doerr, “but life a few centimeters under the surface of the ground can remain intact”. The seeds survive heat and sprout with the first rains, while high intensity fires, such as the current ones, they can even “rejuvenate the ecosystem”second Rory Haddenprofessor toUniversity of Edinburgh. “They are a kind of reset.”

However, the intensity and frequency of fires in California are increasing due to a combination of factors: demographic growth, urban expansion, climate change and prolonged drought periods. “In recent times, low gravity fires have occurred more frequently,” said Doerr, “degrading the ecosystem. From an ecological point of view, what we missed is a high -severity fire “.

The current conditions were exasperated by the “climatic oscillations”, with twenty of Santa Ana particularly violent e an abundance of dry vegetation due to drought.

While the flames continue to flare up, Imma Oliveras Menorresearcher of theUniversity of Oxfordwarns that the severity of these fires could compromise the ability to resume ecosystem. “The main danger is that the intensity of the flames killed the underground organs of the plants“, He explained. “Another plausible scenario is that the intensity of the fires has caused serious damage to the soil structure“.

When the embers are off and the smoke has thinned out, the long and uncertain recovery phase will begin. Beth Pratt will carefully observe the return of wildlife, hoping to find the survivors. “The habitat will return, of course,” he concludes, “but he could return differently”.