Short-term responses of reptile assemblages to fire in native and weedy tropical savannah

Abom, Rickard; Schwarzkopf, Lin

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2016.02.002

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…While our study did not specifically investigate reptile successional response, we found clear relationships between richness and abundance and time since fire, which may indicate some weak successional organization. The differences between recently burned and long‐unburned sites imply the reptile assemblage is composed of at least some fire‐sensitive species (Abom & Schwarzkopf, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Average dissimilarity and % contribution values are shown only for the three species that make the greatest contribution to dissimilarity in each contrast. The results for all species can be found in Supporting Information Table S6. and long-unburned sites imply the reptile assemblage is composed of at least some fire-sensitive species (Abom & Schwarzkopf, 2016).…”

Section: Community Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While appropriate fire regimes for flora are relatively well known (Bradstock & Cohn, 2002), those for many faunal species remain poorly understood (Driscoll et al, 2010), resulting in many fire management plans omitting fauna altogether (Clarke, 2008). Reptiles are one taxonomic group that appear to be affected where a landscape shifts toward being dominated by shorter fire intervals (Abom & Schwarzkopf, 2016;Elzer et al, 2013;Nimmo et al, 2013;Valentine, Reaveley, Johnson, Fisher, & Wilson, 2012); however, knowledge of reptile responses to fire remains limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The disproportionate importance of long‐unburned forests and woodlands for reptiles

Dixon

Cary

Worboys

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Our understanding of the impacts of time since fire on reptiles remains limited, partly because there are relatively few locations where long‐term, spatially explicit fire histories are available. Such information is important given the large proportion of some landscapes that are managed with frequent prescribed fire to meet fuel management objectives. We conducted a space‐for‐time study across a landscape in southeastern Australia where the known fire history spanned 6 months to at least 96 years. Four methods were used to survey reptiles in 81 forest and woodland sites to investigate how time since fire (TSF), habitat, and environmental variables affect reptile richness, abundance, and composition. We used generalized linear models, generalized linear mixed‐effects models, PERMANOVA, and SIMPER to identify relationships between the reptile assemblage (richness, abundance, and composition, respectively) and TSF, habitat, and environmental variables. All three reptile metrics were associated with TSF. Reptile richness and abundance were significantly higher in sites >96 years postfire than younger fire ages (0.5–12 years). Reptile composition at long‐unburned sites was dissimilar to sites burned more recently but was similar between sites burned 0.5–2 and 6–12 years prior to sampling. Synthesis and applications. Long‐unburned forests and woodlands were disproportionately more important for reptile richness and abundance than areas burned 6 months to 12 years prior to sampling. This is important given that long‐unburned areas represent <8% of our study area. Our results therefore suggest that reptiles would benefit from protecting remaining long‐unburned areas from fire and transitioning a greater proportion of the study area to long‐unburned. However, some compositional differences between the long‐unburned sites and sites 0.5–12 years postfire indicate that maintaining a diversity in fire ages is important for conserving reptile diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Community Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The disproportionate importance of long‐unburned forests and woodlands for reptiles

Dixon

Cary

Worboys

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ctenotus robustus also responded negatively to heavy grazing, in accordance with the response of Ctenotus sp. in other grazed locations, and likely due to a reduction of thermal refuges at ground level in heavily grazed areas (Abom & Schwarzkopf, 2016;Hacking, Abom, & Schwarzkopf, 2014). (Woinarski & Ash, 2002), further suggesting this species' response to grazing is greatly influenced by the surrounding vegetation community.…”

Section: Terrestrial Reptile Response To Grazingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Arboreality increases reptile community resistance to disturbance from livestock grazing

Neilly

Nordberg

VanDerWal

et al. 2017

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Domestic livestock grazing directly alters ground‐level habitat but its effects on arboreal habitat are poorly known. Similarly, the response to grazing of ground‐dwelling fauna has been examined, but there are few studies of arboreal fauna. Globally, grazing has been implicated in the decline of vertebrate fauna species, but some species appear resistant to the effects of grazing, either benefiting from the structural changes at ground level or avoiding them, as may be the case with arboreal species. Here, we examine arboreal and terrestrial habitat responses and reptile community responses to grazing, to determine whether arboreal reptile species are more resistant than terrestrial reptile species. We conducted arboreal and terrestrial reptile surveys on four different grazing treatments, at a 19‐year experimental grazing trial in northern Australia. To compare the grazing response of arboreal and terrestrial reptile assemblages, we used community, functional group and individual species‐level analyses. Species responses were modelled in relation to landscape‐scale and microhabitat variables. Arboreal reptile species were resistant to the impact of grazing, whereas terrestrial reptiles were negatively affected by heavy grazing. Terrestrial reptiles were positively associated with complex ground structures, which were greatly reduced in heavily grazed areas. Arboreal lizards responded positively to microhabitat features such as tree hollows. Synthesis and applications. Arboreal and terrestrial reptiles have different responses to the impact of livestock grazing. This has implications for rangeland management, particularly if management objectives include goals relating to conserving certain species or functional groups. Arboreal reptiles showed resistance in a landscape that is grazed, but where trees have not been cleared. We highlight the importance of retaining trees in rangelands for both terrestrial and arboreal microhabitats.

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Resilience of reptiles to megafires

Santos

Belliure

Gonçalves

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Extreme climate events, together with anthropogenic land‐use changes, have led to the rise of megafires (i.e., fires at the top of the frequency size distribution) in many world regions. Megafires imply that the center of the burnt area is far from the unburnt; therefore, recolonization may be critical for species with low dispersal abilities such as reptiles. We aimed to evaluate the effect of megafires on a reptile community, exploring to what extent reptile responses are spatially shaped by the distance to the unburnt area. We examined the short‐term spatiotemporal response of a Mediterranean reptile community after two megafires (>20,000 ha) that occurred in summer 2012 in eastern Spain. Reptiles were sampled over 4 years after the fire in burnt plots located at different distances from the fire perimeter (edge, middle, and center), and in adjacent unburnt plots. Reptile responses were modeled with fire history, as well as climate and remotely sensed environmental variables. In total, we recorded 522 reptiles from 12 species (11 species in the burnt plots and nine in the unburnt plots). Reptile abundance decreased in burnt compared with unburnt plots. The community composition and species richness did not vary either spatially (unburnt and burnt plots) or temporally (during the 4 years). The persistence of reptiles in the burnt area supported their resilience to megafires. The most common lizard species was Psammodromus algirus; both adults and juveniles were found in all unburnt and burnt plots. This species showed lower abundances in burnt areas compared with the unburnt and a slow short‐term abundance recovery. The lizard Psammodromus edwarsianus was much less abundant and showed a tendency to increase its abundance in burnt plots compared with unburnt plots. Within the megafire area, P. algirus and P. edwarsianus abundances correlated with the thermal–moisture environment and vegetation recovery regardless of the distance from the fire edge. These results indicated the absence of a short‐term reptile recolonization from the unburnt zone, demonstrating that reptiles are resilient (in situ persistence) to megafires when environmental conditions are favorable.

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Short-term responses of reptile assemblages to fire in native and weedy tropical savannah

Cited by 21 publications

References 48 publications

The disproportionate importance of long‐unburned forests and woodlands for reptiles

The disproportionate importance of long‐unburned forests and woodlands for reptiles

Arboreality increases reptile community resistance to disturbance from livestock grazing

Resilience of reptiles to megafires

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