California wildfires 2015 – How do animals and their ecosystem survive the fires?

Wildfires torching drought-stricken California over the last few months have burned hundreds of structures and left thousands of people without homes.

Forgotten in this unusually extensive fire season is the impact on local ecosystems, which will certainly change once the nearly two dozen fires subside.

In theory, the idea of losing their homes seems detrimental to animals' well-being, but they're consistently learning to adapt to new surroundings. People are building closer to their habitats. Predators and prey forcefully close in on each other's quarters. Even wildfires - like those burning through California at a rate of about 48,100 acres per year - force land and aquatic life to survive by either escaping danger or hiding in whatever burrow they find.

Some even need changes in habitats, food sources, and energy cycles to evolve. Unlike humans, animals tend to thrive amid flames.

"Wildlife have a long-standing relationship with fire," said ecosystem ecologist Mazeika Sullivan in speaking with National Geographic last year. "Fire is a natural part of their landscapes."

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, certain types of fish and amphibians benefit from the lack of woody vegetation following a fire by taking advantage of sunny areas and empty spaces.

Birds like Black-bears and woodpeckers take advantage of by feasting on bark beetles scurrying about dead trees. Some breeds of tortoises and sparrows found in longleaf pine forests use the barren land for nesting. Plant life changes dramatically as microbes, fungi, and other organisms recolonize, in turn affecting animals who feast on them.

"In many instances, such ecological impacts eventually disappear or create a net benefit for the ecosystem over time, but chronic damage can also occur," read the USDA's January 2013 forest report.

A California Department of Fish and Wildlife study of mule deer in the 1990s found fire is the most effective mechanism in restoring their habitat, following declines caused by hunters and land developers.

"When large wildfires occurred, deer populations - as reflected in part by the change in harvest of deer during hunting season - began to increase after a three-year lag time, more so than in areas not subject to large wildfires," the study read, adding that deer are excellent barometers of habitat conditions.

The Golden State's overall deer population has been cut in half since 1991 - down to 443,289 last year - but wildlife geologists attribute it more to human interaction than their ever-changing ecosystem.

Massive, fast-moving fires along the West Coast will have dire effects on plants and animals. To date, the so-called Rocky Fire is only 12 percent contained, having engulfed 65,000 acres since July 29. Firefighters working the 4,745-acre Frog Fire near the Modoc National Forest quelled half of it by Tuesday afternoon.

The two blazes, just a pair of 21 across a state, have already charred over 50 homes and threatened at least 6,300 structures. There's no way to determine the toll taken on ecological habitats.

According to Sullivan, who was commenting on similar wildfires in the Pacific Northwest last summer, plant and animal life suited for a wildfire environment tends to survive, as it always has.

"In those short term situations," she said. "There's always winners and losers."