Effects of Fire Intensity on Litter Arthropod Communities in Ozark Oak Forests, Arkansas, U.S.A

Verble-Pearson, Robin; Yanoviak, Stephen P.

doi:10.1674/0003-0031-172.1.14

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Fire, like harvesting operations and invasive species control, impacts different taxa in different ways [84][85][86]. For example, species richness of beetles increased following fire in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but the intensity and directionality of impacts were taxon specific with no general patterns [87].…”

Section: Effects Of Firementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Forest Management Effects on Terrestrial Leaf Litter Inhabiting Arthropods

Hartshorn

2020

Forests

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Leaf litter arthropods are some of the most abundant and diverse communities in forests and provide myriad ecosystem services from decomposition and mineralization to pollination and predation. They are important to forest health and management and, in turn, are affected by how we manage our forests. Various forest management techniques such as clear cutting, burning, and chemical control of invasive species all have differing effects on ground dwelling arthropods and, despite their importance, a review of the literature on these effects does not currently exist. My objective with this paper is to review the effects of different types of forest management on arthropods in leaf litter systems.

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Section: Effects Of Firementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Forest Management Effects on Terrestrial Leaf Litter Inhabiting Arthropods

Hartshorn

2020

Forests

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“…), both of which could be influenced by fire grain or extent. For example, larger, coarse‐grained burns in contrast to smaller, fine‐grained burns, often have higher temperatures, faster rates of spread, and create post‐burn habitat with less edge, scenarios that may affect both ant survival and recolonization patterns (Verble‐Pearsons and Yanoviak ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire disturbance disrupts an acacia ant–plant mutualism in favor of a subordinate ant species

Sensenig

Kimuyu

Guajardo

et al. 2017

Ecology

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Although disturbance theory has been recognized as a useful framework in examining the stability of ant-plant mutualisms, very few studies have examined the effects of fire disturbance on these mutualisms. In myrmecophyte-dominated savannas, fire and herbivory are key drivers that could influence ant-plant mutualisms by causing complete colony mortality and/or decreasing colony size, which potentially could alter dominance hierarchies if subordinate species are more fire resilient. We used a large-scale, replicated fire experiment to examine long-term effects of fire on acacia-ant community composition. To determine if fire shifted ant occupancy from a competitive dominant to a subordinate ant species, we surveyed the acacia-ant community in 6-7 yr old burn sites and examined how the spatial scale of these burns influenced ant community responses. We then used two short-term fire experiments to explore possible mechanisms for the shifts in community patterns observed. Because survival of ant colonies is largely dependent on their ability to detect and escape an approaching fire, we first tested the evacuation response of all four ant species when exposed to smoke (fire signal). Then to better understand how fire and its interaction with large mammal herbivory affect the density of ants per tree, we quantified ant worker density in small prescribed burns within herbivore exclusion plots. We found clear evidence suggesting that fire disturbance favored the subordinate ant Crematogaster nigriceps more than the dominant and strong mutualist ant C. mimosae, whereby C. nigriceps (1) was the only species to occupy a greater proportion of trees in 6-7 yr old burn sites compared to unburned sites, (2) had higher burn/unburn tree ratios with increasing burn size, and (3) evacuated significantly faster than C. mimosae in the presence of smoke. Fire and herbivory had opposite effects on ant density per meter of branch for both C. nigriceps and C. mimosae, with fire decreasing ant densities per meter of branch and the presence of large herbivores increasing ant density. Taken together, these experiments suggest that major ecosystem disturbances like fire can disrupt mutualistic associations and maintain diversity in partner quality and identity despite a clear dominance hierarchy.

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“…Increased movement could also be a response to an overall reduction in invertebrate prey. Though we did not measure prey availability in this study, prescribed fire has been shown to decrease invertebrate abundance (Verble‐Pearson & Yanoviak, ). While we observed increases in movement metrics among salamanders in burned areas, neither the total number of recaptures nor minimum number of known‐alive salamanders decreased in burned areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prescribed fire alters surface activity and movement behavior of a terrestrial salamander

2016

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Prescribed fire has become a commonly used forest management tool for reducing the occurrence of severe wildfires, decreasing fuel loads and reestablishing the historic ecological influences of fire. Investigating population-level wildlife responses to prescribed fire is important for evaluating the effects of fire management on animals, but in order to predict and simulate wildlife responses to potential management actions, mechanistic studies that elucidate individual-level responses are also necessary. We used radio-frequency identification to investigate individual-level responses of western slimy salamanders Plethodon albagula to prescribed fire. We compared the salamander home-range sizes [minimum convex polygons (MCP)], movement behaviors, and activity levels before and after prescribed fire using a randomized block experiment. We initiated the study at three plots in 2011, and added two new plots in 2012. We captured, tagged and released ≥38 salamanders at each plot from May 2011-May 2012 (total N = 205). We recorded 918 total recaptures of 142 unique salamanders; 31% of tagged salamanders were never recaptured. Across all years and treatments, only 14% of relocations were surfaceactive (i.e. visually confirmed) salamanders; the others were underground. Following prescribed fire, the surface-active proportion of recaptures was nearly seven times greater in control versus burned areas, which indicates that P. albagula respond to post-prescribed fire conditions by spending more time belowground. We did not find evidence of direct mortality of salamanders from fires; the proportion of known-alive individuals did not differ between treatments. Maximum daily displacement was 43.3% higher among burn-area than control-area salamanders, and MCP varied in a similar pattern; this may indicate salamanders were attempting to find more hospitable microenvironments or other resources, such as prey. Together, these individual-level observations corroborate our findings from a population-level study of a congeneric terrestrial salamander and contribute to our understanding of the behavioral mechanisms underlying population dynamics.

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Effects of Fire Intensity on Litter Arthropod Communities in Ozark Oak Forests, Arkansas, U.S.A

Cited by 17 publications

References 39 publications

A Review of Forest Management Effects on Terrestrial Leaf Litter Inhabiting Arthropods

A Review of Forest Management Effects on Terrestrial Leaf Litter Inhabiting Arthropods

Fire disturbance disrupts an acacia ant–plant mutualism in favor of a subordinate ant species

Prescribed fire alters surface activity and movement behavior of a terrestrial salamander

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