Fire

A wildfire can survive winter after it seems dead. If embers burn into deep peat, they can smolder under snow for months, then return to the surface when spring dries the ground. Researchers call these zombie fires.

The plant cistus has sap with a flash point of just 35°C, spontaneously igniting in dry Mediterranean summers. It burns surrounding plants to death, but its fire-resistant seeds germinate in the ash—an evolutionary self-immolation strategy to beat competitors.