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The potential importance of unburned islands as refugia for the persistence of wildlife species in fire-prone ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: The persistence of wildlife species in fire-prone ecosystems is under increasing pressure from global change, including alterations in fire regimes caused by climate change. However, unburned islands might act to mitigate negative effects of fire on wildlife populations by providing habitat in which species can survive and recolonize burned areas. Nevertheless, the characteristics of unburned islands and their role as potential refugia for the postfire population dynamics of wildlife species remain poorly understood.We used a newly developed unburned island database of the northwestern United States from 1984 to 2014 to assess the postfire response of the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a large gallinaceous bird inhabiting the sagebrush ecosystems of North America, in which wildfires are common. Specifically, we tested whether prefire and postfire male attendance trends at mating locations (leks) differed between burned and unburned areas, and to what extent postfire habitat composition at multiple scales could explain such trends.Using time-series of male counts at leks together with spatially explicit fire history information, we modeled whether male attendance was negatively affected by fire events. Results revealed that burned leks often exhibit sustained decline in male attendance, whereas leks within unburned islands or >1.5 km away from fire perimeters tend to show stable or increasing trends.Analyses of postfire habitat composition further revealed that sagebrush vegetation height within 0.8 km around leks, as well elevation within 0.8 km, 6.4 km, and 18 km around leks, had a positive effect on male attendance trends. Moreover, the proportion of the landscape with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) cover >8% had negative effects on male attendance trends within 0.8 km, 6.4 km, and 18 km of leks, respectively. Synthesis and applications. Our results indicate that maintaining areas of unburned vegetation within and outside fire perimeters may be crucial for sustaining sage-grouse populations following wildfire. The role of unburned islands as fire refugia requires more attention in wildlife management and conservation planning because their creation, protection, and maintenance may positively affect wildlife population dynamics in fire-prone ecosystems.

SUBMITTER: Steenvoorden J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6686341 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The potential importance of unburned islands as refugia for the persistence of wildlife species in fire-prone ecosystems.

Steenvoorden Jasper J Meddens Arjan J H AJH Martinez Anthony J AJ Foster Lee J LJ Kissling W Daniel WD

Ecology and evolution 20190704 15

The persistence of wildlife species in fire-prone ecosystems is under increasing pressure from global change, including alterations in fire regimes caused by climate change. However, unburned islands might act to mitigate negative effects of fire on wildlife populations by providing habitat in which species can survive and recolonize burned areas. Nevertheless, the characteristics of unburned islands and their role as potential refugia for the postfire population dynamics of wildlife species rem ...[more]

PMID: 31410281

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Project description:Our understanding of the impacts of time since fire on reptiles remains limited, partly because there are relatively few locations where long-term, spatially explicit fire histories are available. Such information is important given the large proportion of some landscapes that are managed with frequent prescribed fire to meet fuel management objectives. We conducted a space-for-time study across a landscape in southeastern Australia where the known fire history spanned 6 months to at least 96 years. Four methods were used to survey reptiles in 81 forest and woodland sites to investigate how time since fire (TSF), habitat, and environmental variables affect reptile richness, abundance, and composition. We used generalized linear models, generalized linear mixed-effects models, PERMANOVA, and SIMPER to identify relationships between the reptile assemblage (richness, abundance, and composition, respectively) and TSF, habitat, and environmental variables. All three reptile metrics were associated with TSF. Reptile richness and abundance were significantly higher in sites >96 years postfire than younger fire ages (0.5-12 years). Reptile composition at long-unburned sites was dissimilar to sites burned more recently but was similar between sites burned 0.5-2 and 6-12 years prior to sampling. Synthesis and applications. Long-unburned forests and woodlands were disproportionately more important for reptile richness and abundance than areas burned 6 months to 12 years prior to sampling. This is important given that long-unburned areas represent <8% of our study area. Our results therefore suggest that reptiles would benefit from protecting remaining long-unburned areas from fire and transitioning a greater proportion of the study area to long-unburned. However, some compositional differences between the long-unburned sites and sites 0.5-12 years postfire indicate that maintaining a diversity in fire ages is important for conserving reptile diversity.

Dataset Information

The potential importance of unburned islands as refugia for the persistence of wildlife species in fire-prone ecosystems.

Publications

The potential importance of unburned islands as refugia for the persistence of wildlife species in fire-prone ecosystems.

Similar Datasets

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