Can NDVI identify drought refugia for mammals and birds in mesic landscapes?

White, John G.; Sparrius, Jacinta; Robinson, Tomas; Hale, Susannah; Lupone, Luke; Healey, Tom; Cooke, Raylene; Rendall, Anthony R.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158318

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Notably, although higher NDVI is typically associated with higher species richness for the mammals comprising our medium‐sized mammal group (Dorph et al., 2021 ; White et al., 2022 ; Youngentob et al., 2015 ), individually, these species have exhibited positive (Miritis et al., 2020 ; White et al., 2022 ), negative (Ralph, 2021 ), and neutral (Hale et al., 2016 ; Youngentob et al., 2015 ) responses to NDVI. These varied relationships are likely due to factors such as drought, fire history, and habitat type (White et al., 2022 ; Youngentob et al., 2015 ). Nonetheless, our findings suggest that NDVI may be a useful means of identifying and conserving productive and structurally complex areas which may facilitate mammal occurrence and diversity in this landscape (Rivarola, 2022 ; Sukma et al., 2019 ), especially following disturbances such as drought (White et al., 2022 ), plant pathogen spread (Casey, 2022 ), or fire (Dorph et al., 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The small‐ and medium‐sized mammals in our study area typically prefer dense vegetation, where food and denning resources are greater and the risk of predation is likely lower (Catling et al., 2001 ; Dexter et al., 2011 ). We therefore predicted that the activity of these groups will be positively associated with NDVI and decrease after the prescribed fire (White et al., 2022 ). In partial support of this prediction, the activity of medium‐sized mammals decreased with Fire extent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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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“…Here, removal of boneseed may have imparted increased predation risk, which resulted in a reduction in the use of these sites by mice (Arthur et al 2004). The role of retained structure supporting small mammals is likely to apply to native species (Rendall et al 2019; Chadwick et al 2022; White et al 2022), and where native species overlap with house mice, they are likely to outcompete them (Stokes et al 2009; Rendall et al 2019). House mouse was the only small mammal species captured throughout the study, with no native species observed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maintaining vegetative structure during weed management sustains birds and an invasive mammal

Carlos

Rendall

Gibson

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

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Weed management often involves active measures to minimize or prevent negative impacts on local wildlife. Approaches include retention of weed structure, altered timing of management to avoid wildlife breeding seasons, and/or the gradual removal of weeds in conjunction with revegetation of native plants. We assess the short‐term impacts of retaining some structural complexity offered by weeds post management to birds and a small mammal in two ecosystems. One ecosystem involves a wetland with an emergent weed, the other a woodland with a sub‐canopy weed. Before‐After‐Reference‐Control‐Impact experiments revealed that assemblage and activity of birds and an invasive small mammal—the only captured in numbers during our study—were minimally altered by weed management. In some instances, we observed the activity of native bird species favoring the use of weeds. Evidence also suggested the weedy sites supported different species assemblages compared to reference sites without weeds. This study indicates that, in the short‐term, retention of weed structure can sustain birds and an exotic mammal that use weeds.

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“…We selected a set of covariates to test our hypotheses related to pre‐ and post‐fire habitat use/occupancy as well as density. Covariates were Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), often used to assess habitat quality for mammals (Pettorelli et al., 2005; White et al., 2022), area burned (AB) derived from Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (ΔNBR), which measures fire severity (Escuin et al., 2008), and distance from water (Boron et al., 2019). We additionally included detection covariates ( p ) of effort as the total of trap nights per station; year, included to account for differences related to time variation as field staff and camera type (Gutiérrez‐González et al., 2015; Kotze et al., 2012); and whether the camera station was on a trail or not (Sollmann et al., 2011).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neotropical mammal responses to megafires in the Brazilian Pantanal

Bardales,

Boron,

Passos Viana

et al. 2024

Global Change Biology

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The increasing frequency and severity of human‐caused fires likely have deleterious effects on species distribution and persistence. In 2020, megafires in the Brazilian Pantanal burned 43% of the biome's unburned area and resulted in mass mortality of wildlife. We investigated changes in habitat use or occupancy for an assemblage of eight mammal species in Serra do Amolar, Brazil, following the 2020 fires using a pre‐ and post‐fire camera trap dataset. Additionally, we estimated the density for two naturally marked species, jaguars Panthera onca and ocelots Leopardus pardalis. Of the eight species, six (ocelots, collared peccaries Dicotyles tajacu, giant armadillos Priodontes maximus, Azara's agouti Dasyprocta azarae, red brocket deer Mazama americana, and tapirs Tapirus terrestris) had declining occupancy following fires, and one had stable habitat use (pumas Puma concolor). Giant armadillo experienced the most precipitous decline in occupancy from 0.431 ± 0.171 to 0.077 ± 0.044 after the fires. Jaguars were the only species with increasing habitat use, from 0.393 ± 0.127 to 0.753 ± 0.085. Jaguar density remained stable across years (2.8 ± 1.3, 3.7 ± 1.3, 2.6 ± 0.85/100 km2), while ocelot density increased from 13.9 ± 3.2 to 16.1 ± 5.2/100 km2. However, the low number of both jaguars and ocelots recaptured after the fire period suggests that immigration may have sustained the population. Our results indicate that the megafires will have significant consequences for species occupancy and fitness in fire‐affected areas. The scale of megafires may inhibit successful recolonization, thus wider studies are needed to investigate population trends.

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Can NDVI identify drought refugia for mammals and birds in mesic landscapes?

Cited by 13 publications

References 58 publications

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

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

Maintaining vegetative structure during weed management sustains birds and an invasive mammal

Neotropical mammal responses to megafires in the Brazilian Pantanal

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