Ecological succession and habitat attributes affect the postfire response of a Mediterranean reptile community

Abstract

Wildfires are recognized as natural disturbances that have shaped landscape structure and ecosystem composition in many regions of the world. As ectotherms, many Mediterranean reptiles are expected to benefit from the thermal quality of open areas created by fires. However, not all the reptile species respond positively to this pattern. We have explored the response to fire of a Mediterranean reptile community in a protected area of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. We visually searched for reptiles at 102 sites, including unburnt, recently burnt (2003), and old burnt (1985)(1986) localities. The number of reptiles and species richness was higher at burnt sites, and both were related to several variables of the habitat structure. Accordingly, between the two most common species in recently burnt sites, Podarcis hispanica declined in old fire habitats whereas Psammodromus algirus did not. Snakes did not differ between burnt and unburnt areas, although the ambush predator viper Vipera latastei was found more frequently in unburnt habitats. Our results imply that there are different succession trajectories for Mediterranean reptile species according to their habitat preferences, life history traits, and dietary specialization. The study area has been drastically human-altered in the last 100 years by agriculture, pine reforestation, agricultural abandonment, and wildfires. These land use changes drastically alter the vegetation cover, favoring some reptiles and damaging others, and finally can promote local extinctions of sensitive species to habitat shifts.

Habitat structure and host plant specialization drive taxonomic andfunctional composition of Heteroptera in postfire successional habitats

“…These changes accounted for higher abundance of bugs at burnt than at unburnt sites, and also for species replacement. This taxonomic response has been similarly reported in a wide variety of animal taxa previously examined in the study area (snails [Santos et al, 2009], Hymenoptera [Mateos et al, 2011], and reptiles [Santos and Poquet, 2010]). We acknowledge that our results could be partially biased by a spatial effect due to site selection limitations.…”

Reptile responses to fire and the risk of post-disturbance sampling bias

“…Two common reptile species in this study have increased abundance after fire, a response that is commonly reported for reptiles (e.g. Matthews et al 2010;Santos and Poquet 2010). The habitat accommodation model of reptile responses to fire (Caughley 1985;Driscoll and Henderson 2008;Letnic et al 2004) predicts that burrowing species that forage in open areas will be favoured in the post-fire environment.…”

Assessing the impact of reforestation on the diversity of Mediterranean terrestrial Gastropoda

“…However, the Park has undergone drastic modification in terms of land use: 100 years ago, it was completely dominated by a mosaic of vineyards with small forest patches in valleys and on hills and mountain tops. Subsequently, pine plantations and natural reforestation modified the landscape, resulting in its present form, a process common in other parks and areas of the region (Santos and Poquet 2010). As a result, the woodland most commonly found is a mixed-pine forest of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) and Holm oak (Quercus ilex).…”