18 - Lightening Strikes

Lightening is another powerful force of nature. Notice the spiral scar on this tree, the charred wood from the heat, and the shattered pieces of tree lying about. What looks like destruction is actually creation – such strikes create cavities for birds and mammals, open the forest floor to more sunlight for new plants to grow, or cause forest fires, a natural disturbance that re-starts forest succession, where one temporary plant community is replaced by another, and then another, over time. For example, grasses and forbs are replaced by shrubs and seedlings, and eventually those are replaced by sapling and pole trees, and so on until it is a mature forest.

18N 45° 50.307'W 89° 40.349'