8 ms·

I believe the heat of a wildfire is literally the trigger for the cone to open up and release the redwood's seeds! (I don't know the exact mechanism for this, t

I believe the heat of a wildfire is literally the trigger for the cone to open up and release the redwood's seeds! (I don't know the exact mechanism for this, though.)

khuey 6y ago
You're thinking of the coast redwood's relative, the giant sequoia. Fire dries out the cones causing the seeds to release.
- tingletech 6y ago
  seems to be the same tree? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens edit: ah, Giant Sequoia is genus Sequoiadendron -- but both seem to have cones open by fire
- hangun 6y ago
  I think I saw this in a zombie movie once
DoreenMichele 6y ago
I don't know. I know there is a pine that does that, but I'm in rough shape and trying to stay out of trouble, which is challenging for me under the best of circumstances. I remember the pine cone of I think a yellow pine species opens up at 170 degrees, so it typically opens in response to fire. A quick google suggests it is called a Jack Pine. Hurricanes are also thought to be responsible for bringing fly species to islands and new islands end up having bird poo on them with seeds the birds ingested. Plants do this intentionally to let birds spread their seeds because birds lack teeth, so the seeds don't get chewed up in the process. Hot peppers are intended to be eaten by birds but not other species. They are hot as a form of chemical warfare against things they don't want eating them. Chocolate and maybe also coffee is bitter like it is to kill ants and if you have sufficiently dark chocolate (in, say, a tent), it doesn't attract ants. Milk chocolate attracts ants because of the sugar, but the cocoa itself is ant poison. Anyway, little islands form from volcanos and they start sticking up out of the ocean a little and they become resting places for birds and the bird poo is the first soil and fertilizer on these barren volcanic rocks and then coconut trees are typically the first trees because the coconut will float across the ocean without being killed by the salt water and land on some newly formed little island with a bit of bird poo and a few plants and it will take root. I think no other tree does that. If you get rid of all "disasters" entirely, you kill off a lot of stuff. Mother Nature or "mother earth" has fascinating and complex ways of letting life find a way and fire laying waste to some portion of the forest and leaving in its wake fertile soil and opening the cones of some pine species is just one of the fascinating ways she does that. Anyway, I have big plans to shut up on HN and attempt to go behave now by being elsewhere. Ciao.
- keeganpoppen 6y ago
  I believe you are referring to Lodgepole Pines
  - quixoticelixer- 6y ago
    There are quite a large number of pines that do this.
    - DFHippie 6y ago
      Another example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_pine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_pine The general phenomenon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotiny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotiny
      - keeganpoppen 6y ago
        oh wow thank you both for generalizing the phenomenon for me-- as an idahoan my world was a bit to small, I guess =)
- henearkr 6y ago
  Why shut up? Your post was very informative and thanks to you I learned a lot of things! However, I bet that the scale of the wildfires in our apocalyptic late-Anthropocene is something hardly seen before in healthy forests... all these species would be better off with less of it.
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    I have a medical condition and I was extremely frazzled. I can't judge if I'm making sense or not when I'm really frazzled. I've napped a bit, so I'm less frazzled now, but I'm still dealing with a lot of stress, as is often the case.
    - henearkr 6y ago
ggop 6y ago
The Mountain Ash trees of south east Australia are similar in that the bushfire helps release seeds. These are also one of the tallest tree species on the planet. https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/static/interplay-with-fire https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/static/interplay-with-fire
- quixoticelixer- 6y ago
  Almost all Eucalyptus are like this
whalesalad 6y ago
Not just a trigger. The heat itself is what opens the cone.
amluto 6y ago
There may well be a mechanism by which fire increases redwood germination, but coast redwoods produce many, many viable seedlings without fire. Source: I have seen them!

I believe the heat of a wildfire is literally the trigger for the cone to open up and release the redwood's seeds! (I don't know the exact mechanism for this, though.)

khuey 6y ago

You're thinking of the coast redwood's relative, the giant sequoia. Fire dries out the cones causing the seeds to release.

tingletech 6y ago
seems to be the same tree? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens edit: ah, Giant Sequoia is genus Sequoiadendron -- but both seem to have cones open by fire
hangun 6y ago
I think I saw this in a zombie movie once

DoreenMichele 6y ago

I don't know. I know there is a pine that does that, but I'm in rough shape and trying to stay out of trouble, which is challenging for me under the best of circumstances. I remember the pine cone of I think a yellow pine species opens up at 170 degrees, so it typically opens in response to fire. A quick google suggests it is called a Jack Pine. Hurricanes are also thought to be responsible for bringing fly species to islands and new islands end up having bird poo on them with seeds the birds ingested. Plants do this intentionally to let birds spread their seeds because birds lack teeth, so the seeds don't get chewed up in the process. Hot peppers are intended to be eaten by birds but not other species. They are hot as a form of chemical warfare against things they don't want eating them. Chocolate and maybe also coffee is bitter like it is to kill ants and if you have sufficiently dark chocolate (in, say, a tent), it doesn't attract ants. Milk chocolate attracts ants because of the sugar, but the cocoa itself is ant poison. Anyway, little islands form from volcanos and they start sticking up out of the ocean a little and they become resting places for birds and the bird poo is the first soil and fertilizer on these barren volcanic rocks and then coconut trees are typically the first trees because the coconut will float across the ocean without being killed by the salt water and land on some newly formed little island with a bit of bird poo and a few plants and it will take root. I think no other tree does that. If you get rid of all "disasters" entirely, you kill off a lot of stuff. Mother Nature or "mother earth" has fascinating and complex ways of letting life find a way and fire laying waste to some portion of the forest and leaving in its wake fertile soil and opening the cones of some pine species is just one of the fascinating ways she does that. Anyway, I have big plans to shut up on HN and attempt to go behave now by being elsewhere. Ciao.

keeganpoppen 6y ago
I believe you are referring to Lodgepole Pines
- quixoticelixer- 6y ago
  There are quite a large number of pines that do this.
  - DFHippie 6y ago
    Another example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_pine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_pine The general phenomenon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotiny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotiny
    - keeganpoppen 6y ago
      oh wow thank you both for generalizing the phenomenon for me-- as an idahoan my world was a bit to small, I guess =)
henearkr 6y ago
Why shut up? Your post was very informative and thanks to you I learned a lot of things! However, I bet that the scale of the wildfires in our apocalyptic late-Anthropocene is something hardly seen before in healthy forests... all these species would be better off with less of it.
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  I have a medical condition and I was extremely frazzled. I can't judge if I'm making sense or not when I'm really frazzled. I've napped a bit, so I'm less frazzled now, but I'm still dealing with a lot of stress, as is often the case.
  - henearkr 6y ago

ggop 6y ago

The Mountain Ash trees of south east Australia are similar in that the bushfire helps release seeds. These are also one of the tallest tree species on the planet. https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/static/interplay-with-fire https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/static/interplay-with-fire

quixoticelixer- 6y ago
Almost all Eucalyptus are like this

whalesalad 6y ago

Not just a trigger. The heat itself is what opens the cone.

amluto 6y ago

There may well be a mechanism by which fire increases redwood germination, but coast redwoods produce many, many viable seedlings without fire. Source: I have seen them!