Rodent Populations Recovering from Fire in an East Mediterranean Woodland*

Izhaki, Ido; Haim, Abraham; Zohar, O.

doi:10.2166/wst.1993.0593

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The traps were set in fixed marked places, in the afternoon and collected the next morning. Fifty traps were set on each plot (250 traps for each treatment), in five lines of 10 traps each 10 m apart from one another (Haim, 1993;Izhaki et al, 1993). Peanut butter spread on pieces of carrot or bread was used as bait.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in rodent community during recovery from fire: relevance to conservation

Haim

Izhaki

1994

Biodivers Conserv

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Fire is a common disturbance in the Mediterranean ecosystem. A fire that broke out in the eastern Mediterranean pine forest on Mount Carmel in September 1989 destroyed thousands of hectares of natural forest. We carded out a comparative study of rodent recovery after fire under three different management regimes in order to establish the best treatment for recovery. Rodents were used as 'bio-indicators', because of their limited home range, to assess the best management practice to be used in the recovery of the post-fire habitat. Our results show that the three arboreal Palaeoarctic species which lived in this habitat before the fire either died during the fire or left the habitat as a result of its destruction. A succession of rodent species was observed. The untreated burned forest had the highest species diversity in the initial stage, while during a later stage the highest diversity was observed in plots where the burned trees were cut down, the trunks removed and the twigs collected into small piles. The results also suggest that removing the trunks and twigs at the initial stage of recolonization results in a more xeric and warm habitat which will postpone the reinvasion of the forest species.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in rodent community during recovery from fire: relevance to conservation

Haim

Izhaki

1994

Biodivers Conserv

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“…The gross energy intake (GEI) was 7235 + 1446 cal/day and the apparent energy metabolizability was 80.1 + 1.8% (Table 1). Our field studies (Haim, 1993;Haim and Izhaki, 1994;Izhaki et al, 1993) showed that Mus macedonicus established large populations even in plots where the trunks and twigs of the burned trees were removed. However, in the Mediterranean ecosystem, mainly in places like Mount Carmel which are close to Fig.…”

Section: Food and Energy Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Metabolic Rate and Thermoregulation in the Macedonianmouse Mus Macedonicus

Shabtay¹,

Arad²,

Haim³

2000

Israel Journal of Zoology

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The metabolic and thermoregulatory capacities of the Macedonian mouse (Mus macedonicus) of a population from a post-fire habitat on Mount Carmel, Israel, were studied. Post-fire habitats in the Mediterranean ecosystem of Mount Carmel are invaded by species that exist in the forest margins, including M. macedonicus, which established the largest mice population at early stages of recovery. Therefore, it was of great interest to study its thermoregulatory physiology. Mice were acclimated to a photoperiod of 12L:12D at an ambient temperature of 27 °C. The aim of this study was to reveal the physiological capacities of M. macedonicus that enable its invasion into the exposed, dry and hot post-fire habitats on Mount Carmel at the early stages of recovery. The results of our study show that M. macedonicus has a relatively low metabolic rate, which is also reflected in its relatively low food and energy consumption. Its thermoneutral zone is 32-37 °C, with a high lower critical point, similar to desert-adapted rodent species. This species has a relatively high overall thermal conductance 0.295+0.04 ml O 2 . g -1 . h -1 .°C -1 . However, its nonshivering thermogenesis capacity is within the range of other rodent species of a mesic origin, such as wood-mice. These physiological adaptations can partly explain its ability to cope with the challenges of post-fire habitats.

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Some like it burnt: species differences in small mammal assemblage in a Mediterranean basin nearly 3 years after a major fire

Tomassini,

Aghemo,

Baldeschi

et al. 2024

Mamm Res

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The habitat accommodation model (HAM) is a theoretical framework that predicts wildlife community recovery based on their habitat requirements. While post-fire habitat-related research is well documented in the Mediterranean basin, studies specifically focusing on HAM are scarce. Here, we described the small mammal assemblage in a Mediterranean area ~3 years after a fire, specifically examining three functional small mammalian categories: ground-foraging insectivorous, ground-foraging herbivorous/granivorous, and arboreal-foraging species. The study was conducted in Monte Pisano (Italy), where fire burnt ~12 km2 in September 2018. A stratified random sampling was adopted, basing on burnt status and forest type. In each of the 50 sites, during late spring-summer 2021, 12 hair-tubes were deployed, and collected hairs were taxa-attributed based on morphology. A presence/absence dataset was built, and db-RDA was used to explore assemblage composition, and single-species occupancy models to test specific hypotheses. The relative abundance of ground-foraging herbivorous/granivorous was higher in the burnt area, characterised by a dense undergrowth, which could be related to anti-predatory strategies and food opportunities. Insectivorous could be in a recolonisation phase, masking their earlier absence, which could explain why their abundance was not associated with any factor tested. Arboreal-foraging species were associated with forest type, indicating a primary role for tree cover and other factors such as rocky cover and likely in situ survival. The HAM was overall confirmed also in Mediterranean basin ecosystems. This may facilitate predictions about post-fire animal successions, which in turn may provide valuable insights into post-fire management practices and biodiversity conservation strategies.

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Rodent Populations Recovering from Fire in an East Mediterranean Woodland*

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Changes in rodent community during recovery from fire: relevance to conservation

Changes in rodent community during recovery from fire: relevance to conservation

Metabolic Rate and Thermoregulation in the Macedonianmouse Mus Macedonicus

Some like it burnt: species differences in small mammal assemblage in a Mediterranean basin nearly 3 years after a major fire

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