Many anthropogenic land transformations result in ecosystems more sensitive than the original forest towards adverse factors such as fire and erosion. Heathlands, originally created by burning, are more fire-prone than the original hardwood forest. The same holds true for the Mediterranean scrub vegetation, maquis and garigue, compared with the original evergreen forest, even if the fire danger is high in all types of continuous vegetation in climates with long drought periods. In many parts of the world human action displaces the boundary between forests and fire-prone grasslands or savannahs in the direction of increasing area of the latter types.

   Man-made forests, often coniferous, are on average more fire-prone than natural forests. This is not accidental, as a number of  favoured conifer species (e.g. many Pinus species), are fire-tolerant pioneer species, either due to having thick and insulating bark, or to having reproductive mechanisms adapted to fire (serotinous cones, 'grass stages' of some pine species). Both crop plants and most plantation trees have traits of pioneer plants, with rapid early growth, often coupled with a demand for the nutritional improvements caused by site disturbance.

  Fire, particularly when often repeated, opens the way for other types of site deterioration, nutrient depletion and erosion. The hardpan formation in much of the heathlands of the British Isles may not lead directly to erosion, but it does impede drainage and favours the growth of blanket bogs. There is considerable evidence that this development is caused not only by climate changes but also by human intervention.