Relationships between Wildfire Burn Severity, Cavity-Nesting Bird Assemblages, and Habitat in an Eastern Ponderosa Pine Forest

Keele, Emma C.; Donovan, Victoria M.; Roberts, Caleb P.; Nodskov, Sarah M.; Wonkka, Carissa L.; Allen, Craig R.; Powell, Larkin A.; Wedin, David A.; Angeler, David G.

doi:10.1674/0003-0031-181.1.1

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Flora and fauna species richness and biomass decrease when snags and coarse woody debris are removed from a landscape [13,17]. In eastern ponderosa pine, coarse woody debris cover has been shown to be an important factor in determining cavity-nesting bird community composition [75]. Fallen trees can provide important nesting habitat, predator cover, and foraging opportunities [76,77].…”

Section: Wildlife Community and Habitat Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ponderosa Pine Regeneration, Wildland Fuels Management, and Habitat Conservation: Identifying Trade-Offs Following Wildfire

Donovan

Roberts

Wonkka

et al. 2019

Forests

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasing wildfires in western North American conifer forests have led to debates surrounding the application of post-fire management practices. There is a lack of consensus on whether (and to what extent) post-fire management assists or hinders managers in achieving goals, particularly in under-studied regions like eastern ponderosa pine forests. This makes it difficult for forest managers to balance among competing interests. We contrast structural and community characteristics across unburned ponderosa pine forest, severely burned ponderosa pine forest, and severely burned ponderosa pine forest treated with post-fire management with respect to three management objectives: ponderosa pine regeneration, wildland fuels control, and habitat conservation. Ponderosa pine saplings were more abundant in treated burned sites than untreated burned sites, suggesting increases in tree regeneration following tree planting; however, natural regeneration was evident in both unburned and untreated burned sites. Wildland fuels management greatly reduced snags and coarse woody debris in treated burned sites. Understory cover measurements revealed bare ground and fine woody debris were more strongly associated with untreated burned sites, and greater levels of forbs and grass were more strongly associated with treated burned sites. Wildlife habitat was greatly reduced following post-fire treatments. There were no tree cavities in treated burned sites, whereas untreated burned sites had an average of 27 ± 7.68 cavities per hectare. Correspondingly, we found almost double the avian species richness in untreated burned sites compared to treated burned sites (22 species versus 12 species). Unburned forests and untreated burned areas had the same species richness, but hosted unique avian communities. Our results indicate conflicting outcomes with respect to management objectives, most evident in the clear costs to habitat conservation following post-fire management application.

show abstract

Section: Wildlife Community and Habitat Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ponderosa Pine Regeneration, Wildland Fuels Management, and Habitat Conservation: Identifying Trade-Offs Following Wildfire

Donovan

Roberts

Wonkka

et al. 2019

Forests

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…in other studies that show fire severity affects snag retention, density, and habitat variation and thus presence of cavity nesters (Keele et al, 2019;Saab et al, 2004). Conversely, herbivores did not have as strong of a negative response to high severity fire.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Managing for biodiversity: The effects of climate, management and natural disturbance on wildlife species richness

Zeller,

Povak,

Manley

et al. 2023

Diversity and Distributions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AimManagers are increasingly facing an uncertain future given changing climates and ecological trajectories. The interacting effects of climate, natural disturbance, and management actions complicate future projections, and there is a need for approaches that integrate these factors—especially for predicting future vegetation and species richness.LocationCentral Sierra Nevada Mountains, USA.MethodsWe used outputs from a spatially explicit landscape disturbance succession model that incorporated forest management actions, disturbance, and climate to estimate habitat and potential species richness for 202 vertebrate species and five functional groups from 2020 to 2100. We examined species richness outcomes of three forest management scenarios under three climate trajectories. We modelled broadscale drivers of landscape‐level species richness, and proximate effects of management and disturbance at each pixel.ResultsClimate and forest management scenario had significant effects on potential species richness across the landscape, particularly at lower elevations; however, only management had significant effects at higher elevations. We found no effect of the interaction between climate and management scenario. The historical climate and the minimal management scenario generally resulted in higher species richness compared with other scenarios. Positive proximate effects generally included mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, as well as low and medium severity fire and beetle outbreaks. High severity fire had a consistently negative effect on species richness. We also quantified the contribution of protected areas and found that protected areas had higher species richness compared with ecologically similar unprotected lands, especially in climate futures that deviated from the historical climate.Main ConclusionsOur findings highlight that managing for biodiversity is complex, and effects of climate, disturbance, and management differ among species, functional groups, topography and scales. However, landscape disturbance succession models provide a science‐based tool for untangling broadscale drivers and proximate effects of biodiversity and managing for ecological integrity in a changing climate.

show abstract

“…Although snag densities only differed between burned versus unburned, the unique bird and woody plant communities among fire severities indicate other material legacies persist across a fire severity gradient and continue to influence biotic communities. For instance, in the same system, Keele et al () found that, when comparing multiple forest stand structural characteristics, coarse woody debris was the strongest indicator of cavity‐nesting bird community composition 27‐year post‐fire. This difference in structure may explain some disparities between our study and others in bird‐fire severity associations: for example, Hairy Woodpeckers and Western Wood Pewees were more strongly associated with higher burn severities in other studies than in ours (Fontaine & Kennedy, ; Smucker, Hutto, & Steele, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire legacies in eastern ponderosa pine forests

Roberts

Donovan

Wonkka

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Disturbance legacies structure communities and ecological memory, but due to increasing changes in disturbance regimes, it is becoming more difficult to characterize disturbance legacies or determine how long they persist. We sought to quantify the characteristics and persistence of material legacies (e.g., biotic residuals of disturbance) that arise from variation in fire severity in an eastern ponderosa pine forest in North America. We compared forest stand structure and understory woody plant and bird community composition and species richness across unburned, low‐, moderate‐, and high‐severity burn patches in a 27‐year‐old mixed‐severity wildfire that had received minimal post‐fire management. We identified distinct tree densities (high: 14.3 ± 7.4 trees per ha, moderate: 22.3 ± 12.6, low: 135.3 ± 57.1, unburned: 907.9 ± 246.2) and coarse woody debris cover (high: 8.5 ± 1.6% cover per 30 m transect, moderate: 4.3 ± 0.7, low: 2.3 ± 0.6, unburned: 1.0 ± 0.4) among burn severities. Understory woody plant communities differed between high‐severity patches, moderate‐ and low‐severity patches, and unburned patches (all p < 0.05). Bird communities differed between high‐ and moderate‐severity patches, low‐severity patches, and unburned patches (all p < 0.05). Bird species richness varied across burn severities: low‐severity patches had the highest (5.29 ± 1.44) and high‐severity patches had the lowest (2.87 ± 0.72). Understory woody plant richness was highest in unburned (5.93 ± 1.10) and high‐severity (5.07 ± 1.17) patches, and it was lower in moderate‐ (3.43 ± 1.17) and low‐severity (3.43 ± 1.06) patches. We show material fire legacies persisted decades after the mixed‐severity wildfire in eastern ponderosa forest, fostering distinct structures, communities, and species in burned versus unburned patches and across fire severities. At a patch scale, eastern and western ponderosa system responses to mixed‐severity fires were consistent.

show abstract

Relationships between Wildfire Burn Severity, Cavity-Nesting Bird Assemblages, and Habitat in an Eastern Ponderosa Pine Forest

Cited by 8 publications

References 67 publications

Ponderosa Pine Regeneration, Wildland Fuels Management, and Habitat Conservation: Identifying Trade-Offs Following Wildfire

Ponderosa Pine Regeneration, Wildland Fuels Management, and Habitat Conservation: Identifying Trade-Offs Following Wildfire

Managing for biodiversity: The effects of climate, management and natural disturbance on wildlife species richness

Fire legacies in eastern ponderosa pine forests

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About