Effects of time since fire on frog occurrence are altered by isolation, vegetation and fire frequency gradients

Westgate, Martin J.; MacGregor, Christopher; Scheele, Ben C.; Driscoll, Don A.; Lindenmayer, David B.

doi:10.1111/ddi.12659

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(91 reference statements)

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“…; Westgate et al . ). This study provides the first empirical comparative assessment of the effectiveness of using active searches and artificial refuges to detect amphibians in terrestrial environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…; Westgate et al . ), encounter rates with terrestrial refuges are also predicted to increase during these periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, much of the global research on amphibians has focused on aquatic breeding habitats, leaving substantial knowledge gaps on amphibian use of terrestrial environments (Westgate et al . ), especially within heavily modified, agricultural landscapes (Hazell ; Hazell et al . ; Pulsford et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparative use of active searches and artificial refuges to detect amphibians in terrestrial environments

et al. 2018

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Artificial refuges (cover boards) are commonly used to survey and monitor herpetofauna in many parts of the world. Despite the extensive use of artificial refuges in mesic environments, their effectiveness for detecting amphibians in temperate zones has rarely been examined. We compared amphibian detection probabilities between two survey methods; active searches of natural habitat and artificial refuges of three different types (corrugated steel, roofing tiles and timber railway sleepers). Our study area included five bioregions encompassing a 1180-km latitudinal gradient across a modified, temperate eucalypt woodland vegetation community in south-eastern Australia. We deployed 14 778 artificial refuges in terrestrial environments, within patches of remnant vegetation, and collected presence and abundance data on herpetofauna between 1999 and 2017. We used Bayesian logistic regression to identify the most effective survey method for detecting frog species across all bioregions. We modelled frog detections by fitting survey method, time since refuge deployment and rainfall prior to each survey. We detected 3970 individuals from 18 frog species. Overall, we found active searches and timber substrates most effective for detecting a broad range of species, although detection rates were driven by the numerically abundant spotted marsh frog Limnodynastes tasmaniensis. Timber refuges were effective for detecting several burrowing species, whereas active searches were effective at detecting habitat generalists. Quadratic effects of rainfall prior to survey as opposed to linear effects of time since artificial refuge placement was important in explaining frog detection rates in some bioregions. Active searches, timber railway sleepers and sheets of corrugated steel provide complimentary survey methods for detecting amphibians, although detection rates are influenced by rainfall patterns. Artificial refuges provide a time-effective and standardized method for studying amphibians in their non-breeding terrestrial environment and should be incorporated into future surveys and biodiversity monitoring programmes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…; Westgate et al . ), encounter rates with terrestrial refuges are also predicted to increase during these periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparative use of active searches and artificial refuges to detect amphibians in terrestrial environments

et al. 2018

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“…Faunal responses to disturbance are characteristically habitat contingent (Lindenmayer et al., ; Westgate, MacGregor, Scheele, Driscoll, & Lindenmayer, ), having different effects on different habitats because of vegetation‐specific impacts on habitat structure (Nimmo et al., ). This is often related directly to differential effects on habitat openness (Principle 4).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of ant communities to disturbance: Five principles for understanding the disturbance dynamics of a globally dominant faunal group

Andersen

2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

170

137

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Ecological disturbance is fundamental to the dynamics of biological communities, yet a conceptual framework for understanding the responses of faunal communities to disturbance remains elusive. Here, I propose five principles for understanding the disturbance dynamics of ants—a globally dominant faunal group that is widely used as bioindicators in land management, which appear to have wide applicability to other taxa. These principles are as follows: (1) The most important effects of habitat disturbance on ants are typically indirect, through its effects on habitat structure, microclimate, resource availability and competitive interactions; (2) habitat openness is a key driver of variation in ant communities; (3) ant species responses to disturbance are to a large degree determined by their responses to habitat openness; (4) the same disturbance will have different effects on ants in different habitats, because of different impacts on habitat openness; and (5) ant community responses to the same disturbance will vary according to ant functional composition and biogeographical history in relation to habitat openness. I illustrate these principles using results primarily from studies of ant responses to fire, a dominant agent of disturbance globally, to provide a common disturbance currency for comparative analysis. I argue that many of the principles also apply to other faunal groups and so can be considered as general ecological “laws.” As is the case for ants, many impacts of habitat disturbance on other faunal groups are fundamentally related to habitat openness, the effects of disturbance on it and the functional composition of species in relation to it.

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“…In addition to scaling up to broader spatial perspectives, longer temporal perspectives may also help reveal previously unrecognized patterns and help inform conservation priorities. This is particularly true with respect to the study of fire regime-biota interactions, which are scale-and context-dependent, with outcomes that may only become apparent after many repeated fire cycles (Driscoll et al, 2010;Westgate, MacGregor, Scheele, Driscoll, & Lindenmayer, 2018). Due to the fire-dependent and relatively productive nature of NACP savannas, woody encroachment during the period of intense anthropogenic fire suppression (from the 1930s to the 1990s) was nearly ubiquitous within relict savanna fragments (Heyward, 1939;Van Lear et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of plant functional group richness and beta diversity in fire‐dependent pine savannas

Freeman

Kobziar

Leone

et al. 2019

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim To assess the drivers of plant functional group richness and beta diversity in fire‐maintained North American Coastal Plain (NACP) savannas. Location The southern portion of the NACP, a global biodiversity hotspot. This region is characterized by fire‐dependent pine savanna fragments that are isolated within a matrix of agriculture, urban development, non‐pyrogenic plant communities and plantation forestry. Methods We used nested quadrats to sample plant species on 30 fire‐maintained savanna preserves in Florida and Georgia, USA. We analysed between‐site Sørenson dissimilarity, a measure of beta diversity, using NMDS and PerMANOVA. We measured nestedness using NODF, and we used Betapart to partition Sørenson dissimilarity into nestedness and turnover components. We used linear and generalized linear mixed models to explore drivers of functional group richness and composition, including fire regime (return interval, number of fires, time since fire and seasonality), vegetation structure (herbaceous cover, woody cover and tree density) and spatial factors (surrounding landscape and geographic distance). Results We found turnover‐dominated beta‐diversity patterns in all functional groups. Turnover was explained partly by spatial and environmental gradients, but roughly half of the turnover between sites was unexplained. Species richness was higher on sites where fire and fire surrogates had been used longer and more consistently, and these effects were partly independent of current vegetation structure. Fire regimes containing more growing season fire and more diversity of burn seasons promoted higher species richness. Relationships between small‐scale and large‐scale species richness varied by soil type and functional group. Main conclusions Fire‐maintained savannas in the southeastern NACP vary greatly in their plant functional group richness, but high beta diversity resulting primarily from species turnover suggests that even species‐poor sites can harbour less‐common members of the regional plant metacommunity. Prescribed fire regimes that include growing season fire as well as a diversity of burn seasons may best promote species and functional group richness.

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Effects of time since fire on frog occurrence are altered by isolation, vegetation and fire frequency gradients

Cited by 12 publications

References 59 publications

Comparative use of active searches and artificial refuges to detect amphibians in terrestrial environments

Comparative use of active searches and artificial refuges to detect amphibians in terrestrial environments

Responses of ant communities to disturbance: Five principles for understanding the disturbance dynamics of a globally dominant faunal group

Drivers of plant functional group richness and beta diversity in fire‐dependent pine savannas

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