Foraging habitat selection by California spotted owls after fire

Bond, Monica L.; Bradley, Curt; Lee, Derek

doi:10.1002/jwmg.21112

Cited by 26 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Although spotted owls may use high severity patches (Bond et al. , ), there is likely a threshold level of high severity fire effects beyond which habitat suitability is appreciably reduced (Lee et al. , Jones et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, it is likely that postfire habitat conditions become unsuitable for nesting and roosting by spotted owls following wildfires with large, extensive patches of high severity fire (e.g., 2004 Sims Fire; Jones et al 2016). Although spotted owls may use high severity patches (Bond et al 2009(Bond et al , 2016, there is likely a threshold level of high severity fire effects beyond which habitat suitability is appreciably reduced (Lee et al 2013, Jones et al 2016.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research has also been ambiguous on the use of burned areas by spotted owls; two studies found spotted owls using forests burned at all severities for foraging but avoiding moderate‐ and high‐severity burned areas for roosting (Bond et al. , ), one study found the probability of use decreasing with increasing fire severity (Eyes ), while another found spotted owls avoided foraging in large patches of severely‐burned forest 1 yr post‐fire (Jones et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This confluence of ecologically and economically valuable forests with a changing disturbance regime has created intense interest in the effects of wildfire on spotted owls, with some studies reporting negative effects of wildfires on spotted owl survival (Clark et al 2011), reproduction (Gaines et al 1997, Jenness et al 2004, and territory occupancy and colonization rates (Clark et al 2013, Jones et al 2016 while others found no discernible effects of wildfires on spotted owl survival and reproduction (Bond et al 2002), territory occupancy (Bond et al 2002, Roberts et al 2011, Lee and Bond 2015, and colonization and extinction rates of territories (Lee et al 2012). Research has also been ambiguous on the use of burned areas by spotted owls; two studies found spotted owls using forests burned at all severities for foraging but avoiding moderate-and high-severity burned areas for roosting (Bond et al 2009(Bond et al , 2016, one study found the probability of use decreasing with increasing fire severity (Eyes 2014), while another found spotted owls avoided foraging in large patches of severely-burned forest 1 yr post-fire (Jones et al 2016). These conflicting results suggest that any categorical conclusion about the influence of wildfire on spotted owls is not warranted, but rather that spotted owls exhibit varied responses to wildfire due in part to the highly variable nature of wildfire itself (e.g., overall burn severity, wildfire size, pre-fire habitat conditions, time since fire, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential impacts of wildfire on the population dynamics of an old‐forest species

Rockweit

Franklin²,

Carlson

2017

Ecology

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Ecological disturbances shape and maintain natural communities, but climate change and human land use can alter disturbance regimes and affect population persistence and vital rates in unpredictable ways. Species inhabiting landscapes shaped by wildfire have evolved mechanisms allowing them to persist under this dynamic disturbance type, which creates habitats of varying quality for these species. We utilized data from a 26-yr demographic study of northern spotted owls to analyze the influence of wildfire on apparent survival and recruitment rates. Wildfires occurred across different years and affected different spotted owl territories, which allowed us to implement a retrospective Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) analysis and model the potential effect of wildfire extent and severity. Our results indicated that mixed-severity fires that burned at predominantly low-severity had little effect on survival and recruitment while fires characterized by more medium to high burn severities negatively affected spotted owl survival, with varying effects on recruitment. Reduced survival and increased recruitment rates on some territories affected by medium to high severity fires suggested that post-fire habitat quality was reduced resulting in territories that were marginally capable of supporting owls. We hypothesize these territories may have represented "sinks" that were supported by nearby "source" territories in a spatially heterogeneous landscape created by the mixed-severity fire regime of the region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Differential impacts of wildfire on the population dynamics of an old‐forest species

Rockweit

Franklin²,

Carlson

2017

Ecology

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“…), drawing a circle of available area centered at the center of an animal's observed locations with a radius equal to the farther observed location (i.e., capture radius; Bond et al. ), and using a utilization distribution of an animal (Bond et al. ), we aimed to ensure inclusion of all the potential area that was available to each individual within its home range.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting functional responses in agro‐ecosystems from animal movement data to improve management of invasive pests

Wilber

Chinn

Beasley

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

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Functional responses describe how changing resource availability affects consumer resource use, thus providing a mechanistic approach to prediction of the invasibility and potential damage of invasive alien species (IAS). However, functional responses can be context dependent, varying with resource characteristics and availability, consumer attributes, and environmental variables. Identifying context dependencies can allow invasion and damage risk to be predicted across different ecoregions. Understanding how ecological factors shape the functional response in agro‐ecosystems can improve predictions of hotspots of highest impact and inform strategies to mitigate damage across locations with varying crop types and availability. We linked heterogeneous movement data across different agro‐ecosystems to predict ecologically driven variability in the functional responses. We applied our approach to wild pigs (Sus scrofa), one of the most successful and detrimental IAS worldwide where agricultural resource depredation is an important driver of spread and establishment. We used continental‐scale movement data within agro‐ecosystems to quantify the functional response of agricultural resources relative to availability of crops and natural forage. We hypothesized that wild pigs would selectively use crops more often when natural forage resources were low. We also examined how individual attributes such as sex, crop type, and resource stimulus such as distance to crops altered the magnitude of the functional response. There was a strong agricultural functional response where crop use was an accelerating function of crop availability at low density (Type III) and was highly context dependent. As hypothesized, there was a reduced response of crop use with increasing crop availability when non‐agricultural resources were more available, emphasizing that crop damage levels are likely to be highly heterogeneous depending on surrounding natural resources and temporal availability of crops. We found significant effects of crop type and sex, with males spending 20% more time and visiting crops 58% more often than females, and both sexes showing different functional responses depending on crop type. Our application demonstrates how commonly collected animal movement data can be used to understand context dependencies in resource use to improve our understanding of pest foraging behavior, with implications for prioritizing spatiotemporal hotspots of potential economic loss in agro‐ecosystems.

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Spotted Owls and forest fire: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of the evidence

Lee

2018

Ecosphere

Self Cite

143

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Forest and Spotted Owl management documents often state that severe wildfire is a cause of recent declines in populations of Spotted Owls and that mixed‐severity fires (5–70% of burned area in high‐severity patches with >75% mortality of dominant vegetation) pose a primary threat to Spotted Owl population viability. This systematic review and meta‐analysis summarize all available scientific literature on the effects of wildfire on Spotted Owl demography and ecology from studies using empirical data to answer the question: How does fire, especially recent mixed‐severity fires with representative patches of high‐severity burn within their home ranges, affect Spotted Owl foraging habitat selection, demography, and site occupancy parameters? Fifteen papers reported 50 effects from fire that could be differentiated from post‐fire logging. Meta‐analysis of mean standardized effects (Hedge's d) found only one parameter was significantly different from zero, a significant positive foraging habitat selection for low‐severity burned forest. Multi‐level mixed‐effects meta‐regressions (hierarchical models) of Hedge's d against percent of study area burned at high severity and time since fire found the following: a negative correlation of occupancy with time since fire; a positive effect on recruitment immediately after the fire, with the effect diminishing with time since fire; reproduction was positively correlated with the percent of high‐severity fire in owl territories; and positive selection for foraging in low‐ and moderate‐severity burned forest, with high‐severity burned forest used in proportion to its availability, but not avoided. Meta‐analysis of variation found significantly greater variation in parameters from burned sites relative to unburned, with specifically higher variation in estimates of occupancy, demography, and survival, and lower variation in estimates of selection probability for foraging habitat in low‐severity burned forest. Spotted Owls were usually not significantly affected by mixed‐severity fire, as 83% of all studies and 60% of all effects found no significant impact of fire on mean owl parameters. Contrary to current perceptions and recovery efforts for the Spotted Owl, mixed‐severity fire does not appear to be a serious threat to owl populations; rather, wildfire has arguably more benefits than costs for Spotted Owls.

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Foraging habitat selection by California spotted owls after fire

Cited by 26 publications

References 49 publications

Differential impacts of wildfire on the population dynamics of an old‐forest species

Differential impacts of wildfire on the population dynamics of an old‐forest species

Predicting functional responses in agro‐ecosystems from animal movement data to improve management of invasive pests

Spotted Owls and forest fire: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of the evidence

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