Saproxylic Insects and Fire

Hjältén, Joakim; Dynesius, Mats; Hekkala, Anne‐Maarit; Tiselius, Andreas Karlsson; Löfroth, Therese; Mugerwa-Pettersson, R.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75937-1_20

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Fire is an important natural disturbance in many forests and is commonly prescribed by forest managers as a way to reduce the risk of wildfire, create more open forest conditions and to stimulate the growth of understory vegetation. Numerous studies have investigated the effects of fire on saproxylic insects and most of these have shown general benefits to biodiversity 6 . However, interpretation of these patterns is complicated by the fact that most studies have involved using traps to sample flying insects and the sunnier and warmer conditions following fires may stimulate insect activity in burned forests.…”

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“…Many insects have become fire-adapted in response to frequent burns. While many of these benefit from fire but do not depend on it, others are truly pyrophilous, meaning they have evolved traits in response to fires and suffer population declines in the absence of fire 6 . Due to this close association, pyrophilous species are sensitive to fire frequency and have been shown to be rare following long periods of fire suppression.…”

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Effects of prescribed fire and social insects on saproxylic beetles in a subtropical forest

Ulyshen

Lucky

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2020

Sci Rep

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We tested the immediate and delayed effects of a low-intensity prescribed fire on beetles, ants and termites inhabiting log sections cut from moderately decomposed pine trees in the southeastern United States. We also explored co-occurrence patterns among these insects. Half the logs were placed at a site scheduled for a prescribed fire while the rest were assigned to a neighboring site not scheduled to be burned. We then collected insects emerging from sets of logs collected immediately after the fire as well as after 2, 6, 26 and 52 weeks. The fire had little effect on the number of beetles and ants collected although beetle richness was significantly higher in burned logs two weeks after the fire. Both beetle and ant communities differed between treatments, however, with some species preferring either burned or unburned logs. We found no evidence that subterranean termites (Reticulitermes) were influenced by the fire. Based on co-occurrence analysis, positive associations among insect species were over two times more common than negative associations. This difference was significant overall as well for ant × beetle and beetle × beetle associations. Relatively few significant positive or negative associations were detected between termites and the other insect taxa, however.

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