Evaluating the role of fire disturbance in structuring small reptile communities in temperate forests

Hu, Yang; Urlus, Jake; Gillespie, Graeme R.; Letnic, Mike; Jessop, Tim S.

doi:10.1007/s10531-013-0519-z

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(86 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Overall, fire disturbance favored the density of lizards, which increased with elapsed time since last fire. Previous studies show similar patterns of increasing density of reptiles with forest recovery 29 , 46 ; however, contrary to these, we observed relatively lower lizard density in unburned old-growth forests. The observed pattern could be related to an increase in thermoregulation opportunities after fires 16 , and unsuitable conditions for the modeled reptiles in long undisturbed forest stands.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

Altered fire regimes modify lizard communities in globally endangered Araucaria forests of the southern Andes

Infante

Novoa

Ibarra

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wildfire regimes are being altered in ecosystems worldwide. The density of reptiles responds to fires and changes to habitat structure. Some of the most vulnerable ecosystems to human-increased fire frequency are old-growth Araucaria araucana forests of the southern Andes. We investigated the effects of wildfires on the density and richness of a lizard community in these ecosystems, considering fire frequency and elapsed time since last fire. During the 2018/2019 southern summer season, we conducted 71 distance sampling transects to detect lizards in Araucaria forests of Chile in four fire “treatments”: (1) unburned control, (2) long-term recovery, (3) short-term recovery, and (4) burned twice. We detected 713 lizards from 7 species. We found that the density and richness of lizards are impacted by wildfire frequency and time of recovery, mediated by the modification of habitat structure. The lizard community varied from a dominant arboreal species (L. pictus) in unburned and long-recovered stands, to a combination of ground-dwelling species (L. lemniscatus and L. araucaniensis) in areas affected by two fires. Araucaria forests provided key habitat features to forest reptiles after fires, but the persistence of these old-growth forests and associated biodiversity may be threatened given the increase in fire frequency.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 89%

Altered fire regimes modify lizard communities in globally endangered Araucaria forests of the southern Andes

Infante

Novoa

Ibarra

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By altering over time the availability of key resources, such as light, nutrients, forage, and nesting material, fire can play a role in structuring ecological communities (Sousa 1984, Huston 2003. Time since fire has been shown to influence the habitat suitability of a range of species in different systems (Fox 1982, Briani et al 2004, Hu et al 2013. As such, time since fire (and fire return intervals) forms the basis for many current ecological fire management practices (Burrows 2008, van Wilgen et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting faunal fire responses in heterogeneous landscapes: the role of habitat structure

Swan

Christie

Sitters

et al. 2015

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Predicting the effects of fire on biota is important for biodiversity conservation in fire-prone landscapes. Time since fire is often used to predict the occurrence of fauna, yet for many species, it is a surrogate variable and it is temporal change in resource availability to which animals actually respond. Therefore prediction of fire-fauna relationships will be uncertain if time since fire is not strongly related to resources. In this study, we used a space-for-time substitution across a large diverse landscape to investigate interrelationships between the occurrence of ground-dwelling mammals, time since fire, and structural resources. We predicted that much variation in habitat structure would remain unexplained by time since fire and that habitat structure would predict species' occurrence better than time since fire. In line with predictions, we found that time since fire was moderately correlated with habitat structure yet was a poor surrogate for mammal occurrence. Variables representing habitat structure were better predictors of occurrence than time since fire for all species considered. Our results suggest that time since fire is unlikely to be a useful surrogate for ground-dwelling mammals in heterogeneous landscapes. Faunal conservation in fire-prone landscapes will benefit from a combined understanding of fauna-resource relationships and the ways in which fire (including planned fires and wildfires) alters the spatial and temporal distribution of faunal resources.

show abstract

“…Wildfire and prescribed burning typically have strong effects on reptile communities [ 19 , 20 ]. Potential effects include animal mortality [ 21 , 22 ], loss of shelter [ 23 ], altered resource availability [ 24 ] and changes in thermoregulatory opportunities [ 25 ], ultimately leading to changes in the population densities of certain species and associated changes in community composition [ 26 – 29 ]. Habitat suitability is expected to change as vegetation recovers post-fire and certain seral stages often support distinct reptile assemblages [ 26 , 30 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid Recovery of an Urban Remnant Reptile Community following Summer Wildfire

Davis

Doherty

2015

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reptiles in urban remnants are threatened with extinction by increased fire frequency, habitat fragmentation caused by urban development, and competition and predation from exotic species. Understanding how urban reptiles respond to and recover from such disturbances is key to their conservation. We monitored the recovery of an urban reptile community for five years following a summer wildfire at Kings Park in Perth, Western Australia, using pitfall trapping at five burnt and five unburnt sites. The reptile community recovered rapidly following the fire. Unburnt sites initially had higher species richness and total abundance, but burnt sites rapidly converged, recording a similar total abundance to unburnt areas within two years, and a similar richness within three years. The leaf-litter inhabiting skink Hemiergis quadrilineata was strongly associated with longer unburnt sites and may be responding to the loss of leaf litter following the fire. Six rarely-captured species were also strongly associated with unburnt areas and were rarely or never recorded at burnt sites, whereas two other rarely-captured species were associated with burnt sites. We also found that one lizard species, Ctenotus fallens, had a smaller average body length in burnt sites compared to unburnt sites for four out of the five years of monitoring. Our study indicates that fire management that homogenises large areas of habitat through frequent burning may threaten some species due to their preference for longer unburnt habitat. Careful management of fire may be needed to maximise habitat suitability within the urban landscape.

show abstract

Evaluating the role of fire disturbance in structuring small reptile communities in temperate forests

Cited by 24 publications

References 52 publications

Altered fire regimes modify lizard communities in globally endangered Araucaria forests of the southern Andes

Altered fire regimes modify lizard communities in globally endangered Araucaria forests of the southern Andes

Predicting faunal fire responses in heterogeneous landscapes: the role of habitat structure

Rapid Recovery of an Urban Remnant Reptile Community following Summer Wildfire

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About