The effect of fire history in shaping diversity patterns of flower-visiting insects in post-fire Mediterranean pine forests

Lazarina, Maria; Sgardelis, Stefanos P.; Tscheulin, Thomas; Devalez, Jelle; Mizerakis, Vangelis; Kallimanis, Athanasios S.; Papakonstantinou, Spyridon; Kyriazis, Thanassis; Petanidou, Theodora

doi:10.1007/s10531-016-1228-1

Cited by 37 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Based on our findings, the mosaic of habitats left by mixed‐severity wildfires could explain why some studies have reported limited changes in bee species richness due to fire (e.g., Lazarina et al. ), while others have observed marked increases in bee species richness after fire in similar habitats (e.g., Potts et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

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Wild bee diversity increases with local fire severity in a fire‐prone landscape

et al. 2019

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As wildfire activity increases in many regions of the world, it is imperative that we understand how key components of fire‐prone ecosystems respond to spatial variation in fire characteristics. Pollinators provide a foundation for ecological communities by assisting in the reproduction of native plants, yet our understanding of how pollinators such as wild bees respond to variation in fire severity is limited, particularly for forest ecosystems. Here, we took advantage of a natural experiment created by a large‐scale, mixed‐severity wildfire to provide the first assessment of how wild bee communities are shaped by fire severity in mixed‐conifer forest. We sampled bees in the Douglas Fire Complex, a 19,000‐ha fire in southern Oregon, USA, to evaluate how bee communities responded to local‐scale fire severity. We found that fire severity served a strong driver of bee diversity: 20 times more individuals and 11 times more species were captured in areas that experienced high fire severity relative to areas with the lowest fire severity. In addition, we found pronounced seasonality in the local bee community, with more individuals and more species captured during late summer, especially in severely burned regions of the landscape. Two critical habitat components for maintaining bee populations—flowering plants and boring insect exit holes used by cavity‐nesting bees—also increased with fire severity. Although we detected shifts in the relative abundance of several bee and plant genera along the fire severity gradient, the two most abundant bee genera (Bombus and Halictus) responded positively to high fire severity despite differences in their typical foraging ranges. Our study demonstrates that within a large wildfire mosaic, severely burned forest contained the most diverse wild bee communities. This finding has particularly important implications for biodiversity in fire‐prone areas given the expected expansion of wildfires in the coming decades.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…, Lazarina et al. ), both of which are unrepresentative of the mosaic of fire severity that is typical of contemporary wildfires in many regions of the world (Strauss et al. , Stocks et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild bee diversity increases with local fire severity in a fire‐prone landscape

et al. 2019

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“…At each site, seven surveys were conducted, three monthly rounds in 2012 (July-September) and four monthly rounds in 2013 (April-July), employing the common sampling method of UV-bright pantraps (Nielsen et al 2011). Although the pantrap sampling method has been reported to be insufficient for assessing the entire pollinator species richness and abundance (Popic et al 2013), it is an efficient procedure employed to sample pollinator communities in different habitat types, especially in Mediterranean ecosystems (e.g., Westphal et al 2008, Nielsen et al 2011, Lazarina et al 2016, L azaro et al 2016a. In each site and round, 10 triplets of UV-bright pantraps (standard-sized 500-mL bowls) of yellow, blue, and white color were placed with 10-m minimum distance between each other, in a linear transect and within 50-m distance from the center of each site.…”

Section: Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Different insect taxa perceive and exploit the environment at different spatial scales, depending on their traits and requirements (Steffan-Dewenter et al 2002, Holland et al 2005, Petchey and Gaston 2006, Jauker et al 2009), and even ecologically and morphologically similar species may respond at different scales (Redhead et al 2016). However, regarding pollinator response to fire severity, our knowledge derives more indirectly from their response pattern over time (e.g., Petanidou and Ellis 1996, Ne'eman et al 2000, Potts et al 2003, Moretti et al 2006, Campbell et al 2007, Grundel et al 2010, Williams et al 2010, Cruz-S anchez et al 2014, or through studies investigating responses to other disturbances, such as grazing and habitat loss (L azaro et al 2016a, b, Kov acs-Hosty anszki et al 2017, than directly (but see Thom et al 2015, Ponisio et al 2016. These studies discuss the intermediate disturbance hypothesis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moderate fire severity is best for the diversity of most of the pollinator guilds in Mediterranean pine forests

Lazarina

Devalez

Neokosmidis

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Fire, a frequent disturbance in the Mediterranean, affects pollinator communities. We explored the response of major pollinator guilds to fire severity, across a fire‐severity gradient at different spatial scales. We show that the abundance of all pollinator groups responded to fire severity, and that bees and beetles showed in addition a significant species‐diversity response. Bees, sawflies, and wasps responded to fire severity at relatively small spatial scales (250–300 m), whereas flies and beetles responded at larger spatial scales. The response of bees, sawflies, and wasps was unimodal, as predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, whereas flies and beetles showed a negative response. A possible explanation is that the observed patterns (spatial scale and type of response) are driven by taxa‐specific ecological and life‐history traits, such as nesting preference and body size, as well as the availability of resources in the postfire landscape. Our observational study provides an insight into the effect of fire severity on pollinators. However, future research exploring the explicit link between the pre‐ and postfire landscape structure and pollinator traits and responses is required for further establishment and understanding of cause–effect relationships.

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“…In addition, short fire intervals may prevent many plants from reaching maturity and flowering (“immaturity risk”; Pausas & Keeley, ; Zedler, ). Therefore, pollinators are likely to depend on the different components of fire regime like the frequency of fires (Lazarina et al, ; Moretti, Obrist, & Duelli, ), the time since fire (Brown, York, Christie, & McCarthy, ; Potts et al, ; Swengel & Swengel, ) and the spatial variability of these parameters (Brown, York, & Christie, ; Ponisio et al, ). Understanding how fire regime factors affect pollinators is critical for planning conservation and management actions in the context of the Anthropocene (Dirzo et al, ; Kelly et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global synthesis of fire effects on pollinators

Carbone

Tavella

Pausas

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

103

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Aim Understanding fire effects on pollinators is critical in the context of fire regime changes and the global pollination crisis. Through a systematic and quantitative review of the literature, we provide the first global assessment of pollinator responses to fire. We hypothesize that pollinators increase after fire and during the early postfire succession stages; however, high fire frequency has the opposite effect, decreasing pollinators. Location Terrestrial ecosystems, excluding Antarctica. Time period Data collected from 1973 to 2017. Major taxa studied Insects (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera) and a few bird species. Methods We first compiled available studies across the globe that assessed fire effects on pollinator communities. Then, by means of hierarchical meta‐analyses, we evaluated how different fire regime parameters (fire frequency, postfire time and fire type) and habitat characteristics affect the abundance and richness of animals that act as pollinators. We also explored to what extent the responses vary among taxa groups and life history traits of pollinators (sociality system, nest location and feeding specialization), and among biomes. Results The overall effect size of fire on pollinator abundance and richness across all studies was positive. Fire effect was especially clear and significant in early postfire communities, after wildfires, and for Hymenoptera. Taxonomic resolution influenced fire effects, where only studies at the species/genus and family levels showed significant effects. The main exceptions were recurrent fires that showed a negative effect, and especially wildfire effects on Lepidoptera abundance that showed a significant negative response. Main conclusions Pollinators tend to be promoted after a wildfire event. However, short fire intervals may threat pollinators, and especially lepidopterans. Given the current fire regime changes at the global scale, it is imperative to monitor postfire pollinators across many ecosystems, as our results suggest that fire regime is critical in determining the dynamics of pollinator communities.

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The effect of fire history in shaping diversity patterns of flower-visiting insects in post-fire Mediterranean pine forests

Cited by 37 publications

References 39 publications

Wild bee diversity increases with local fire severity in a fire‐prone landscape

Wild bee diversity increases with local fire severity in a fire‐prone landscape

Moderate fire severity is best for the diversity of most of the pollinator guilds in Mediterranean pine forests

A global synthesis of fire effects on pollinators

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