Mammal responses to spatial pattern in fire history depend on landscape context

Delaney, Lauren J; Stefano, Julian Di; Sitters, Holly

doi:10.1007/s10980-020-01186-3

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…The bait consisted of oats, peanut butter, golden syrup and pistachio essence in a perforated PVC canister (15‐cm long by 4‐cm diameter) attached to a wooden stake and suspended 20 cm from the ground. We used these camera set‐up parameters (Supporting Information Figure a) as previous research in south‐western Victoria has shown that they result in high detectability estimates for both small mammals and introduced predators such as cats and foxes (Hradsky et al ., 2017 a ; Delaney, Di Stefano & Sitters, 2021). Eight cameras (three white‐flash and five infrared) malfunctioned and at these sites we redeployed both cameras, resulting in a data set from 76 fully functional cameras.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untangling the influences of fire, habitat and introduced predators on the endangered heath mouse

Nalliah

Sitters

Smith

et al. 2021

Animal Conservation

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Globally, species extinctions are driven by multiple interacting factors including altered fire regimes and introduced predators. In flammable ecosystems, there is great potential to use fire for animal conservation, however most fire‐based conservation strategies do not explicitly consider interacting factors. In this study, we sought to understand the interrelationships between the endangered heath mouse Pseudomys shortridgei, fire, resource availability and the introduced fox Vulpes vulpes in southeast Australia. We predicted that heath‐mouse relative abundance would respond indirectly to post‐fire age class (recently burnt; 0–3 years since fire, early; 4–9 years, mid; 10–33 years and late; 34–79 years) via the mediating effects of resources (shrub cover and plant‐group diversity) and fox relative abundance. We used structural equation modelling to determine the strength of hypothesized pathways between variables, and mediation analysis to detect indirect effects. Both the cover of shrubs (0–50 cm from the ground) and fox relative abundance were associated with post‐fire age class. Shrub cover was highest 0–9 years after fire, while fox relative abundance was highest in recently burnt vegetation (0–3 years after fire). Heath mice were positively correlated with shrub cover and plant‐group diversity, and negatively correlated with fox relative abundance. We did not detect a direct relationship between heath mice and post‐fire age class, but they were indirectly associated with age class via its influence on both shrub cover and fox relative abundance. Our findings suggest that heath mice will benefit from a fire regime promoting dense shrub regeneration in combination with predator control. Understanding the indirect effects of fire on animals may help to identify complementary management practices that can be applied concurrently to benefit vulnerable species. Analytical and management frameworks that include multiple drivers of species abundance and explicitly recognize the indirect effects of fire regimes will assist animal conservation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untangling the influences of fire, habitat and introduced predators on the endangered heath mouse

Nalliah

Sitters

Smith

et al. 2021

Animal Conservation

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“…For example, in savannas, fire heterogeneity is most often expressed in terms of proportion of area burnt, and by various analyses of burnt patch size (Brockett 2001;Russell-Smith and Yates 2007). For the current study, we chose metrics likely to reflect vegetation structure, fuel characteristics, habitat diversity and the extent of connectivity of patches, which is important for dispersal and recolonisation by some fauna (Baguette et al 2012;Sitters et al 2015;Vasudev et al 2015;Pianka 2017;Parkins et al 2018;Delaney et al 2021). Metrics chosen to describe the scale and spatial arrangement of patches in the current study were the following: mean and maximum patch size, Euclidean distance to nearest neighbour (a measure of patch separation), patch density (number of patches per unit area) and perimeter density (length of patch perimeter, or edge, per unit area).…”

Section: Metrics Used To Describe and Compare Fire Mosaicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire mosaics in south-west Australian forest landscapes

Burrows¹,

Stephens

Wills³

et al. 2021

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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In fire-prone environments, prescribed burning is important for achieving many public land management objectives including protecting communities and the environment from damaging bushfires. There is evidence that in some biomes, reducing the size of burnt patches and creating a fine-scale mosaic of vegetation at different times since last fire (seral stages) may benefit biodiversity. However, planning and implementing an ongoing burning program to achieve this is problematic. To advance an understanding of the factors affecting burn patch size and seral diversity metrics, a novel experimental management trial that aimed to create and quantify a fine-scale fire mosaic was implemented in a south-west Australian forest landscape. The 10-year trial demonstrated that the fire mosaic characteristics, including diversity of seral stages, burnt patch size, patch distribution and patch connectedness, can be managed to a large extent by ignition frequency, which affects landscape fuel flammability, and the timing of the introduction of fire with respect to weather conditions. In this trial, the frequent introduction of fire under low to moderate Forest Fire Danger Indices resulted in a landscape comprising a quantifiably higher diversity of seral stages and smaller burnt patches than adjacent areas treated by fuel reduction prescribed burns and by a high intensity bushfire.

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“…The differences between native habitat specialists and introduced species was most stark, but we also found shifts within native communities with land‐use change. Kangaroos were more aligned to the introduced species, potentially representing their preference for areas where they can use both cleared land and native vegetation, for foraging and shelter respectively (Delaney et al, 2021; Garnick et al, 2014). The two possum species were also separate from the native habitat specialists, which may reflect their arboreal habit and lesser reliance on heathy woodland vegetation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some native species could persist in small patches if the habitat within them is of high enough quality (in this case, mid‐successional vegetation that is more likely to provide dense cover), and more so if they are able to take advantage of other land‐cover types. For example, kangaroos and yellow‐footed antechinus shelter in native vegetation patches but forage in adjacent cleared land, which may represent a substitution for certain growth stages that may be used for habitat complementation in less modified landscapes (Brotons et al, 2005; Delaney et al, 2021; Marchesan & Carthew, 2008; Nimmo et al, 2019). A greater proportion of mid‐successional vegetation in the landscape (or at least a greater proportion of small patches including this growth stage) therefore has the potential to mitigate the overall negative effect of cleared land extent on native species richness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting responses of native and introduced mammal communities to fire mosaics in a modified landscape

Zylinski

Swan

Sitters

2022

Ecological Applications

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Planned fire is increasingly recognized as an important tool in conservation, but other factors such as land‐use change may hinder the ability of land managers to use fire for the benefit of biodiversity. The mosaic of past fires in native vegetation may interact with the mosaic of other land‐cover types in human‐modified landscapes, yet the effects of these interactions on mammal communities are unknown. We investigated the responses of ground‐dwelling mammal community composition and species richness to interactions between land cover and post‐fire vegetation growth‐stage mosaics in southern Australia. This fire‐prone, human‐modified landscape features a fine‐scale fire mosaic in native vegetation patches surrounded by pasture, horticulture, and peri‐urban environments. We measured the composition of land‐cover types and fire mosaics (landscape structure) at multiple scales of up to 1257 ha surrounding 129 study sites, and considered native and introduced species together and separately. Land‐cover composition was the primary driver of community composition: native species favored areas with a greater proportion of native heathy woodland, whereas introduced species were associated with landscapes comprising more cleared land. The fire mosaic also influenced community composition and species richness: greater growth‐stage diversity was associated with native habitat‐specialist communities and fewer introduced species. In areas with more cleared land, native species richness increased when there was a greater proportion of mid‐successional vegetation, demonstrating that the effect of fire mosaics on mammal diversity depended on land‐cover composition. The positive relationship between introduced species richness and cleared land extent was also stronger in recently burned sites than in other growth stages, suggesting that introduced species are well suited to more modified areas of the landscape. Land managers need to consider the underlying land‐cover composition and the potential interactions it may have with fire mosaics and species composition. In this landscape a greater diversity of growth stages may disadvantage introduced species yet an increase in mid‐successional vegetation in more modified areas would be likely to benefit native mammal communities. Our study highlights that fire management may need to be tailored depending on the context of land use and the species of interest.

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Mammal responses to spatial pattern in fire history depend on landscape context

Cited by 9 publications

References 75 publications

Untangling the influences of fire, habitat and introduced predators on the endangered heath mouse

Untangling the influences of fire, habitat and introduced predators on the endangered heath mouse

Fire mosaics in south-west Australian forest landscapes

Contrasting responses of native and introduced mammal communities to fire mosaics in a modified landscape

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