Unburnt habitat patches are critical for survival and in situ population recovery in a small mammal after fire

Shaw, Robyn E.; James, Alex; Tuft, Katherine; Legge, Sarah; Cary, Geoffrey J.; Peakall, Rod; Banks, Sam C.

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13846

Cited by 35 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…In contrast, only five models had broadscaled mosaic attributes supported (Table 3). This emphasizes the importance of local-scale ecological processes in shaping savannas mammal population dynamics (Legge et al, 2008;Radford, 2012;Leahy et al, 2016;Shaw et al, 2021) over and above the over-arching influences of broader scale fire mosaic patterns from local up to landscape and regional scales (Lawes et al, 2015;Radford et al, 2020a;Stobo-Wilson et al, 2020a). The finding that site-scale, over broader landscape-scale factors, are more important for in situ persistence of mammal populations is also supported by recent studies from other biomes (Hale et al, 2021).…”

Section: The Positive Influence Of Site-scale Habitat Covermentioning

confidence: 65%

“…The dynamic nature of ground layer vegetation highlights a key implied threat to savanna mammals in these open habitats. Total consumption of ground-layer vegetation after high intensity, extensive fires, has been shown to increase feral cat visits and hunting activity to burnt areas (McGregor et al, 2014(McGregor et al, , 2016, and result in elevated predation related mortality (Leahy et al, 2016), and the need for mammals to disperse and recolonize from remote refuge habitats in order to re-establish local populations (Shaw et al, 2021).…”

Section: The Positive Influence Of Site-scale Habitat Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A key feature of sites that retained mammal populations after fire were that they had been burnt in lower intensity, more patchy fires which retained local vegetation cover (Shaw et al, 2021). Such areas act as refugia for local mammals after extensive fires (Legge et al, 2008).…”

Section: The Positive Influence Of Site-scale Habitat Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What then could have led to increased predation impacts of feral cats in northern Australia leading to the most recent savanna mammals declines? Recent studies have shown that cats preferentially hunt (McGregor et al, 2014(McGregor et al, , 2015, have higher kill rates (McGregor et al, 2016) and have greater impacts on small mammal prey in open, recently burnt savannas, or in habitats heavily disturbed by feral livestock (McGregor et al, 2015;Leahy et al, 2016;Shaw et al, 2021). Feral cat activity is thus greatest in areas under severe disturbance regimes, such as frequent high severity fires and/or high feral livestock activity; which is mechanistically linked to repeated removal of groundlayer vegetation and suppression of plant regrowth (McGregor et al, 2015;Legge et al, 2019;Davies et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we test the following hypotheses: (1) That mammal abundance and richness is highest with increasing site-scale ground layer habitat cover/complexity , Radford et al, 2020aDavies et al, 2017Davies et al, , 2020Stobo-Wilson et al, 2020a); (2) that mammal abundance and richness is highest at sites where predator (feral cat and dingo), fire and cattle 'disturbance' is least prevalent or abundant (McGregor et al, 2014(McGregor et al, , 2015(McGregor et al, , 2016Lawes et al, 2015;Leahy et al, 2016;Stobo-Wilson et al, 2020a,b;Shaw et al, 2021); (3) that site-and local-scale fire mosaic attributes will be more influential on mammal abundance and richness than broader landscape-or subregional-scale mosaic attributes due to recolonization/dispersal limitations for some mammal species (Leahy et al, 2016;Shaw et al, 2021); and (4) the most important attributes of local and landscape fire mosaics will be presence of longer unburnt habitat based on previous observations (e.g., Legge et al, 2008;, Radford et al, 2020a and that pyrodiversity (diversity of post-fire habitat age) will be positively associated with mammal abundance and richness based on patch mosaic burning theory (critiques by Parr and Andersen, 2006;Jones and Tingley, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape-Scale Effects of Fire, Cats, and Feral Livestock on Threatened Savanna Mammals: Unburnt Habitat Matters More Than Pyrodiversity

Radford

Corey

Carnes³

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Northern Australia has undergone significant declines among threatened small and medium-sized mammals in recent decades. Conceptual models postulate that predation by feral cats is the primary driver, with changed disturbance regimes from fire and feral livestock in recent decades reducing habitat cover and exacerbating declines. However, there is little guidance on what scale habitat and disturbance attributes are most important for threatened mammals, and what elements and scale of fire mosaics actually support mammals. In this study, we test a series of hypotheses regarding the influence of site-scale (50 × 50 m) habitat and disturbance attributes, as well as local-scale (1 km radius), meta-local scale (3 km), landscape-scale (5 km) and meta-landscape scale (10 km) fire mosaic attributes on mammal abundance and richness. We found that habitat cover (rock, perennial grass, and shrub cover) at the site-scale had a positive effect, and disturbance factors (feral cats, fire, feral livestock) had a negative influence on mammal abundance and richness. Models supported site-scale habitat and disturbance factors as more important for mammals than broader-scale (local up to meta-landscape scale) fire mosaic attributes. Finally, we found that increasing the extent of ≥ 4 year unburnt habitat, and having an intermediate percentage (ca. 25%) of recently burnt (1-year burnt) habitat within the mosaic, were the most important functional elements of the fire mosaic at broad scales for mammals. Contrary to expectations, diversity of post-fire ages (‘pyrodiversity’) was negatively associated with mammal abundance and richness. These results highlight the need for management to promote retention of longer unburnt vegetation in sufficient patches across savanna landscapes (particularly of shrub and fruiting trees), maintain low-intensity patchy fire regimes, reduce the extent of intense late dry season wildfires, and to reduce the impact of feral livestock. This study provides further evidence for the role of feral cats in northern Australian mammal declines, and highlights the need for increased research into the efficacy of cat control methodologies in reducing biodiversity impacts in these extensive landscapes.

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Section: The Positive Influence Of Site-scale Habitat Covermentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: The Positive Influence Of Site-scale Habitat Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Positive Influence Of Site-scale Habitat Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Landscape-Scale Effects of Fire, Cats, and Feral Livestock on Threatened Savanna Mammals: Unburnt Habitat Matters More Than Pyrodiversity

Radford

Corey

Carnes³

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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How do invasive predators and their native prey respond to prescribed fire?

Watchorn,

Doherty,

Wilson

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Fire shapes animal communities by altering resource availability and species interactions, including between predators and prey. In Australia, there is particular concern that two highly damaging invasive predators, the feral cat (Felis catus) and European red fox (Vulpes vulpes), increase their activity in recently burnt areas and exert greater predation pressure on the native prey due to their increased exposure. We tested how prescribed fire occurrence and extent, along with fire history, vegetation, topography, and distance to anthropogenic features (towns and farms), affected the activity (detection frequency) of cats, foxes, and the native mammal community in south‐eastern Australia. We used camera traps to quantify mammal activity before and after a prescribed burn and statistically tested how the fire interacted with these habitat variables to affect mammal activity. We found little evidence that the prescribed fire influenced the activity of cats and foxes and no evidence of an effect on kangaroo or small mammal (<800 g) activity. Medium‐sized mammals (800–2000 g) were negatively associated with prescribed fire extent, suggesting that prescribed fire has a negative impact on these species in the short term. The lack of a clear activity increase from cats and foxes is likely a positive outcome from a fire management perspective. However, we highlight that their response is likely dependent upon factors like fire size, severity, and prey availability. Future experiments should incorporate GPS‐trackers to record fine‐scale movements of cats and foxes in temperate ecosystems immediately before and after prescribed fire to best inform management within protected areas.

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Large fire initially reduces bird diversity in Poland’s largest wetland biodiversity hotspot

et al. 2022

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Freshwater wetlands are widely recognized as biodiversity hotspots for many organisms, including birds. Climate change and the projected increased risk of wetland fires may pose a major threat to wetland biodiversity in the future. There is urgent need to assess short- and long-term effect of fires on avian biodiversity and to establish relevant management implications. We analysed the short-term (first 3 months after fire) effect of a large (5 500 ha) spring wildfire on the community of breeding marshland birds in the best-preserved Polish local wetland biodiversity hotspot: Biebrza Valley. We compared the avian community structure and abundance of certain species before and after the fire on the 18 permanent transects located in both burned and unburned habitats. Within first breeding season post fire, fire significantly reduced pooled abundance and species richness of the whole bird community. Three bird species of special conservation concern (including aquatic warbler) temporarily disappeared from burned areas, and the numbers of 11 other species declined. In contrast, only 3 species benefited from the fire, none of which depended on marshes as their primary habitat. Although the reported strong initial fire effect is likely to fade away in subsequent years, its immediate detrimental effects on marshland birds should not be underestimated. We conclude that it is essential to temporarily provide the unburned adjacent refuge areas with additional protection and bird-friendly management and to focus on preventing further degradation of marshes to increase their resilience to fire.

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Unburnt habitat patches are critical for survival and in situ population recovery in a small mammal after fire

Cited by 35 publications

References 67 publications

Landscape-Scale Effects of Fire, Cats, and Feral Livestock on Threatened Savanna Mammals: Unburnt Habitat Matters More Than Pyrodiversity

Landscape-Scale Effects of Fire, Cats, and Feral Livestock on Threatened Savanna Mammals: Unburnt Habitat Matters More Than Pyrodiversity

How do invasive predators and their native prey respond to prescribed fire?

Large fire initially reduces bird diversity in Poland’s largest wetland biodiversity hotspot

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