Response of pollinator taxa to fire is consistent with historic fire regimes in the Sierra Nevada and mediated through floral richness^†

Abstract

Many fire‐prone forests are experiencing wildfires that burn outside the historical range of variation in extent and severity. These fires impact pollinators and the ecosystem services they provide, but how the effects of fire are mediated by burn severity in different habitats is not well understood. We used generalized linear mixed models in a Bayesian framework to model the abundance of pollinators as a function of burn severity, habitat, and floral resources in post‐fire, mid‐elevation, conifer forest, and meadow in the Sierra Nevada, California. Although most species‐level effects were not significant, we found highly consistent negative impacts of burn severity in meadows where pollinators were most abundant, with only hummingbirds and some butterfly families responding positively to burn severity in meadows. Moderate‐severity fire tended to increase the abundance of most pollinator taxa in upland forest habitat, indicating that even in large fires that burn primarily at high‐ and moderate‐severity patches may be associated with improved habitat conditions for pollinator species in upland forest. Nearly all pollinator taxa responded positively to floral richness but not necessarily to floral abundance. Given that much of the Sierra Nevada is predicted to burn at high severity, limiting high‐severity effects in meadow and upland habitats may help conserve pollinator communities whereas low‐ to moderate‐severity fire may be needed in both systems.