Trends in carnivore and ungulate fire ecology research in North American conifer forests

Volkmann, Logan A.; Hutchen, Jenna; Hodges, Karen E.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117691

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…In addition to habitat losses from fire, further fragmentation via post-fire salvage logging threatens biodiversity in burned forests [ 31 – 33 ]. In the face of such rapid landscape change, it is critical to understand how wildlife use burned landscapes [ 53 , 124 ] and rethink forest management with fire in mind [ 125 – 127 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Post-fire movements of Pacific marten (Martes caurina) depend on the severity of landscape change

Volkmann

Hodges

2021

Mov Ecol

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Background Wildfires and forestry activities such as post-fire salvage logging are altering North American forests on a massive scale. Habitat change and fragmentation on forested landscapes may threaten forest specialists, such as Pacific marten (Martes caurina), that require closed, connected, and highly structured habitats. Although marten use burned landscapes, it is unclear how these animals respond to differing burn severities, or how well they tolerate additional landscape change from salvage logging. Methods We used snow tracking and GPS collars to examine marten movements in three large burns in north-central Washington, USA (burned in 2006) and central British Columbia, Canada (burned in 2010 and 2017). We also assessed marten habitat use in relation to areas salvage-logged in the 2010 burn. We evaluated marten path characteristics in relation to post-fire habitat quality, including shifts in behaviour when crossing severely-disturbed habitats. Using GPS locations, we investigated marten home range characteristics and habitat selection in relation to forest cover, burn severity, and salvage logging. Results Marten in the 2006 burn shifted from random to directed movement in areas burned at high severity; in BC, they chose highly straight paths when crossing salvage-blocks and meadows. Collared marten structured their home ranges around forest cover and burn severity, avoiding sparsely-covered habitats and selecting areas burned at low severity. Marten selected areas farther from roads in both Washington and BC, selected areas closer to water in the 2006 burn, and strongly avoided salvage-logged areas of the 2010 burn. Marten home ranges overlapped extensively, including two males tracked concurrently in the 2010 burn. Conclusions Areas burned at low severity provide critical habitat for marten post-fire. Encouragingly, our results indicate that both male and female marten can maintain home ranges in large burns and use a wide range of post-fire conditions. However, salvage-logged areas are not suitable for marten and may represent significant barriers to foraging and dispersal.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They can also use landscapes substantially altered by fire [ 49 – 52 ]. However, habitat features important to marten post-fire have not been clearly identified [ 53 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-fire movements of Pacific marten (Martes caurina) depend on the severity of landscape change

Volkmann

Hodges

2021

Mov Ecol

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“…Recovery of prefire fauna following severe wildfire depends how habitat, including vegetation, responds to disturbance and the ability of wildlife species to recolonize (Pausas, 2019 ) or shelter in place. To some extent, species responses to wildfire may align with their seral preferences, measured by years since burn (Nelson et al., 2008 ; Volkmann et al., 2020 ). However, generalizations based on seral stage alone are inadequate for several reasons.…”

Section: Wildfire Effects On Terrestrial Fauna In Western North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most ungulates, including pronghorn, bison, and mule deer and elk, benefit from browsing opportunities in early‐mid successional habitat postfire (young hardwood saplings and shrubs) (Volkmann et al., 2020 ). In boreal ecosystems, postfire succession has been linked to booming populations of herbivores and climate‐driven population cycles (Fox, 1978 ).…”

Section: Wildfire Effects On Terrestrial Fauna In Western North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apex predators tend to be resilient to fire disturbance because, as Movers (Box 1 ) they are able to meet generalized habitat needs within large home ranges spanning multiple habitats (Geary et al., 2019 ) representing a wide range of years postfire (Volkmann et al., 2020 ). For example, American kestrels ( Falco sparverius ) continued to breed, although with lower fecundity, following fire (Dawson & Bortolotti, 2006 ).…”

Section: Wildfire Effects On Terrestrial Fauna In Western North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience of terrestrial and aquatic fauna to historical and future wildfire regimes in western North America

Jager

Long

Malison

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Wildfires in many western North American forests are becoming more frequent, larger, and severe, with changed seasonal patterns. In response, coniferous forest ecosystems will transition toward dominance by fire‐adapted hardwoods, shrubs, meadows, and grasslands, which may benefit some faunal communities, but not others. We describe factors that limit and promote faunal resilience to shifting wildfire regimes for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We highlight the potential value of interspersed nonforest patches to terrestrial wildlife. Similarly, we review watershed thresholds and factors that control the resilience of aquatic ecosystems to wildfire, mediated by thermal changes and chemical, debris, and sediment loadings. We present a 2‐dimensional life history framework to describe temporal and spatial life history traits that species use to resist wildfire effects or to recover after wildfire disturbance at a metapopulation scale. The role of fire refuge is explored for metapopulations of species. In aquatic systems, recovery of assemblages postfire may be faster for smaller fires where unburned tributary basins or instream structures provide refuge from debris and sediment flows. We envision that more‐frequent, lower‐severity fires will favor opportunistic species and that less‐frequent high‐severity fires will favor better competitors. Along the spatial dimension, we hypothesize that fire regimes that are predictable and generate burned patches in close proximity to refuge will favor species that move to refuges and later recolonize, whereas fire regimes that tend to generate less‐severely burned patches may favor species that shelter in place. Looking beyond the trees to forest fauna, we consider mitigation options to enhance resilience and buy time for species facing a no‐analog future.

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Small mammal responses to fire severity mediated by vegetation characteristics and species traits

Culhane

Sollmann

White

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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The frequency of large, high‐severity “mega‐fires” has increased in recent decades, with numerous consequences for forest ecosystems. In particular, small mammal communities are vulnerable to post‐fire shifts in resource availability and play critical roles in forest ecosystems. Inconsistencies in previous observations of small mammal community responses to fire severity underscore the importance of examining mechanisms regulating the effects of fire severity on post‐fire recovery of small mammal communities. We compared small mammal abundance, diversity, and community structure among habitats that burned at different severities, and used vegetation characteristics and small mammal functional traits to predict community responses to fire severity three years after one mega‐fire in the Sierra Nevada, California. Using a model‐based fourth‐corner analysis, we examined how interactions between vegetation variables and small mammal traits associated with their resource use were associated with post‐fire small mammal community structure among fire severity categories. Small mammal abundance was similar across fire severity categories, but diversity decreased and community structure shifted as fire severity increased. Differences in small mammal communities were large only between unburned and high‐severity sites. Three highly correlated fire‐dependent vegetation variables affected by fire and the volume of soft coarse woody debris were associated with small mammal community structures. Furthermore, we found that interactions between vegetation variables and three small mammal traits (feeding guild, primary foraging mode, and primary nesting habit) predicted community structure across fire severity categories. We concluded that resource use was important in regulating small mammal recovery after the fire because vegetation provided required resources to small mammals as determined by their functional traits. Given the mechanistic nature of our analyses, these results may be applicable to other fire‐prone forest systems, although it will be important to conduct studies across large biogeographic regions and over long post‐fire time periods to assess generality.

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Trends in carnivore and ungulate fire ecology research in North American conifer forests

Cited by 18 publications

References 84 publications

Post-fire movements of Pacific marten (Martes caurina) depend on the severity of landscape change

Post-fire movements of Pacific marten (Martes caurina) depend on the severity of landscape change

Resilience of terrestrial and aquatic fauna to historical and future wildfire regimes in western North America

Small mammal responses to fire severity mediated by vegetation characteristics and species traits

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