Concluding Remarks. Fire Research - A Perspective for the Future

Abstract

Whatever good may eventuate from the preparation and publication of this book, one important benefit will surely be the realization amongst ecologists that there is much still not known, and to be learnt, regarding the ecology of fire in the biomes of South Africa. Certainly, for some this realization will not be a new experience, either because of an earlier acknowledgement of ignorance or because of a state of penetrating insight and wisdom. However, equally certainly, there are many practising ecologists, probably mainly in the field of agriculture, forestry and conservation, who have been of the view that this management tool, fire, has been well researched and consequently is well understood. This belief probably emanates from the circumstances of fairly narrow management objectives and of familiarity with a specific ecological system. I believe the preceding chapters will have dispelled the notion that fire as an ecological factor is well understood.