Planned fires and invertebrate conservation in south east Australia

New, Tim R.; Yen, Alan L.; Sands, D. P. A.; Greenslade, Penelope; Neville, Peter J.; York, Alan; Collett, N. G.

doi:10.1007/s10841-010-9284-4

Cited by 41 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Pryke and M.J. Samways, unpublished data). Finally, in concordance with New et al (2010), our general knowledge of fire ecology on arthropods is still far from sufficient to be confident that we can use fire as a precision conservation management tool, and that more research, especially on spatial issues, is urgently needed in view of its importance in various ecosystems around the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, while fire is natural process in the CFR, most fires in the area are started as a result of arson or unintentionally by people (Forsyth and van Wilgen 2008). New et al (2010) emphasized that the effects of fire can be complex. For example fire frequency has been reported to have detrimental effects on local invertebrate assemblages (Andersen and Muller 2000;Andersen et al 2005;Coleman and Rieske 2006;Swengel and Swengel 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Importance of using many taxa and having adequate controls for monitoring impacts of fire for arthropod conservation

Pryke

Samways

2011

J Insect Conserv

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Fire is a key natural and anthropogenic disturbance factor across many ecosystems, and also an important conservation management tool. However, little is known about arthropod responses to fire, particularly in Mediterranean-type ecosystems, including the biodiverse Cape Floristic Region (CFR). We investigate here the relative variety of responses by different arthropod taxa to fire, and ask whether single-taxon or multi-taxa approaches better suit post-fire biomonitoring for conservation management. Sampling involved multiple techniques and was conducted before fire, 1 year after fire, and 3 years after fire, with unburned areas as controls. Before-and-after statistics were used to identify changes in arthropod populations and assemblages as a result of fire, and between treatment and control sites. However, this was against a background of the annual effects having a major influence on the arthropods, irrespective of fire. Abundance was so variable, even in control plots, that we found it an unreliable indicator of the impact of fire. Overall, arthropods were remarkably resilient to fire, with most taxa recovering in species richness and assemblage composition within 3 years of the fire. Although all taxa showed resilience to fire, there was nevertheless little congruence in temporal recovery of the various taxa. Our results highlight the shortcomings of monitoring fire impacts using only a single-taxon without prior testing for complementarity or sensitivity to fire, while emphasizing the importance of sampling a wide range of taxa to represent overall responses of compositional biodiversity. From this, we recommend, at least for the CFR, that a cross-section of taxa, such as butterflies, ants, and scarab beetles, be used for monitoring arthropods in recovery/fire management conservation programmes. We also recommend that such monitoring be considered against the background of large annual variation seen in unburned areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of using many taxa and having adequate controls for monitoring impacts of fire for arthropod conservation

Pryke

Samways

2011

J Insect Conserv

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“…On a different continent, Clarke (2008) and New et al (2010) address a similar combination of (1) orders of magnitude differences in estimates of prehistoric fire frequency and extent, and (2) relative paucity of data on long-term population trends, habitat requirements, and management tolerances of rare/specialist flora and fauna. As a result they advise a scientific approach with controls and outgroups to hedge against both what is and isn't known, so as to try to optimize outcomes now for biodiversity.…”

Section: Conservation Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declines of prairie butterflies in the midwestern USA

Swengel¹,

et al. 2010

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Tallgrass prairie butterfly surveys in recent decades in four states in the USA indicate numerous declines of prairie-specialist butterflies including Speyeria idalia, Oarisma poweshiek, Atrytone arogos, Hesperia dacotae, and H. ottoe in fire-managed preserves, including large high-quality ones. These results replicate previous findings, indicating that upon initiation of conservation action, both cessation of prior management and inception of new management affect specialists negatively and that butterfly declines can be as great on reserves as nonreserves. Results at Wisconsin sites with species-specific management protocols, including permanent non-fire refugia, were more favorable for the specialists (S. idalia, Lycaeides melissa samuelis) the protocols were specifically designed to benefit. Butterfly declines after preservation will likely continue unless the conservation approach changes to include consideration of individual species' required resources and management tolerances. The ecosystem approach assumes that habitat specialists are co-evolved with processes such as fires assumed to maintain those ecosystems. Data presented here indicate that tallgrass prairie specialist butterflies are not co-evolved with current fire regimes. An alternate perspective views ecological processes as resetting vegetation to current climate and landscape conditions. Over geologic time, relict vegetation associations persist as outliers until an event resets them. In modern times, human disturbances (especially soil-exposing ones) can reset sites to favour the more generalist species (plants and butterflies) found in the prevailing, human-degraded landscape.

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“…This highlights the need to resolve conflicts between management objectives of fuel reduction and those that relate to sustaining ecological function and biodiversity (Driscoll et al, 2010;Penman et al, 2011). Fulfilling the latter objective is particularly limited by insufficient knowledge of the response of fauna to fire management practices (Clarke, 2008;New et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%