Question

Read the passage below and answer the question that follows.

For decades, conservation policies treated forest fires as purely destructive forces to be suppressed at all costs. However, recent ecological research has illuminated a more complex reality: many ecosystems are not merely resilient to fire but are fundamentally dependent on it for their survival and regeneration. Pyrophytes—plants that have adapted to tolerate or even exploit fire—possess specialized traits such as serotinous cones, which only release seeds when exposed to intense heat, and thick, insulative bark that shields their vascular cambium from thermal damage. These evolutionary adaptations demonstrate that periodic wildfires are an intrinsic, natural component of forest lifecycles rather than ecological anomalies.

Crucially, the suppression of natural wildfires has paradoxically increased the severity of modern forest fires. By preventing small, low-intensity burns, human management practices have allowed unprecedented amounts of dry underbrush and woody debris to accumulate on the forest floor. When a fire inevitably ignites under these conditions, this excess fuel feeds a catastrophic canopy fire that kills even the most fire-resistant mature trees and sterilizes the soil. Consequently, modern ecologists argue that controlled burns are necessary to mimic natural fire regimes and restore structural equilibrium to forest ecosystems. While critics express concern over the immediate risks of prescribed fire, the long-term ecological consequences of total suppression are far more devastating, threatening the biodiversity and resilience of these unique habitats.

Which of the following statements best summarizes the central argument of the passage?