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Modelled response of reptile species richness to each fire variable. Solid lines show the predicted response from each model and dotted lines represent 95% confidence intervals. Grey dots are the observed data of the number of reptile species against each fire variable from 20 survey sites.
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Planned burning generates different types of pyrodiversity, however, experimental tests of how alternative spatial patterns of burning influence animal communities remain rare. Field tests are needed to understand the mechanisms through which spatial variation in planned fire affects fauna, and how fire can be applied to benefit biodiversity.
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Fire shapes animal communities by altering resource availability and species interactions, including between predators and prey. In Australia, there is particular concern that two highly damaging invasive predators, the feral cat (Felis catus) and European red fox (Vulpes vulpes), increase their activity in recently burnt areas and exert greater pr...
Citations
... By contrast, another Australian desert study found that reptile species richness was higher at burnt sites 9 months post burn, but not immediately post burn (Pastro et al., 2011). Additionally, Senior et al. (2023) found that reptile species richness was higher at unburnt compared to burnt sites at 1-12 months after a prescribed burn. In support of these mostly null responses, meta-analyses have found that reptiles (Pastro et al., 2014) and herpetofauna (González et al., 2022) did not show overall positive or negative responses to fire (comprising both prescribed burns and wildfires). ...
Prescribed burning is the primary method used to reduce wildfire risk in a range of ecosystems globally. Knowledge of how animal populations respond to prescribed burns is essential for designing fuel management plans that are sensitive to ecological values. We conducted a before–after, control‐impact experiment in the temperate jarrah forest ecosystem of south‐western Australia to examine how reptiles respond to season of burning (spring or autumn) and time since burning (0–5 years). Through pitfall trapping at 10 survey grids over 7 years, we captured 1808 reptiles from 22 species. Bayesian mixed effects models revealed that six of the eight species analysed showed either a decrease or increase in capture rate at burnt compared to unburnt sites, and most of these effects only occurred within the first 2 years post fire. Species richness showed a weak negative response to one autumn burn and no relationship with time since fire. Fire effects were more common in autumn compared to spring burns, which is likely a reflection of differing fire severities. These results suggest that prescribed burning can temporarily reduce habitat suitability and abundance for some species, particularly those that rely on leaf litter for shelter and foraging. Our findings emphasise the dynamic nature of reptile responses to prescribed burns and underscore the importance of considering both fire seasonality and recency of burning in wildlife management plans.
... Burned and unburned parts of the landscape tend to show different animal composition and diversity (Viljur et al., 2022). These differences can be driven by direct mortality caused by fire (Jolly et al., pre-to postfire conditions and throughout postfire succession based on species' adaptive traits (Kelly et al., 2011;Santos et al., 2022;Senior et al., 2022;Smith, 2018). ...
... In the short term, fire leads to abrupt structural changes in the habitat, such as canopy and shrub cover reduction and increases of bare ground , which in turn can reduce food and shelter availability (Chergui et al., 2019;Hu et al., 2016;Valentine et al., 2012) and suitable microclimates for some reptile species (Webb & Shine, 2008). Thus, a combination of factors, such as direct mortality during fire (Webb & Shine, 2008), changes in habitat structure (Costa et al., 2013), and high predator activity (Senior et al., 2022;Wilgers & Horne, 2007), may result in the short-term pattern we observed. ...
Effects of anthropogenic activities, including climate change, are modifying fire regimes, and the dynamic nature of these modifications requires identification of general patterns of organisms’ responses to fire. This is a challenging task because of the high complexity of factors involved (including climate, geography, land use, and species‐specific ecology). We aimed to describe the responses of the reptile community to fire across a range of environmental and fire‐history conditions in the western Mediterranean Basin. We sampled 8 sites that spanned 4 Mediterranean countries. We recorded 6064 reptile sightings of 36 species in 1620 transects and modeled 3 community metrics (total number of individuals, species richness, and Shannon diversity) as responses to environmental and fire‐history variables. Reptile community composition was also analyzed. Habitat type (natural vs. afforestation), fire age class (time since the last fire), rainfall, and temperature were important factors in explaining these metrics. The total number of individuals varied according to fire age class, reaching a peak at 15–40 years after the last fire. Species richness and Shannon diversity were more stable during postfire years. The 3 community metrics were higher under postfire conditions than in unburned forest plots. This pattern was particularly prevalent in afforested plots, indicating that the negative effect of fire on reptiles was lower than the negative effect of afforestation. Community composition varied by fire age class, indicating the existence of early‐ and late‐successional species (xeric and saxicolous vs. mesic reptiles, respectively). Species richness was 46% higher in areas with a single fire age class relative to those with a mixture of fire age classes, which indicates pyrodiverse landscapes promoted reptile diversity. An expected shift to more frequent fires will bias fire age distribution toward a predominance of early stages, and this will be harmful to reptile communities.
... Our study highlights that unburnt areas play a role in supporting diverse reptile communities in subtropical woodlands, consistent with the latter objective. A key recommendation from this study is that fire management programs in fire-prone woodland landscapes should aim to support the development and retention of long unburnt areas that provide refuge for reptiles and potentially source populations for dispersing individuals as surrounding areas recover their pre-fire attributes (Senior et al., 2023). Our findings also support implementing regular burns to ensure a mosaic of recently burnt areas continues to support species that are well-adapted to recent fire. ...
Extensive wildfires can have profound impacts on fauna communities by altering the vegetation structure and resource availability. However, unburnt areas within a fire mosaic may be important habitat for wildlife while the surrounding area recovers after fire. To understand the importance of unburnt vegetation for reptiles, we studied community assemblages at 15 burnt and 15 unburnt sites in a subtropical woodland 12 months after a 25 000 ha wildfire. We tested the relative importance of unburnt areas and structural attributes on reptile abundance, richness, and community composition across this landscape. Unburnt areas had higher species richness and diversity, but not overall abundance. Reptile community composition differed significantly between burnt and unburnt areas. Woody debris, which was retained in unburnt areas but depleted in burnt areas, was positively associated with increased reptile diversity and richness. Our results suggest that unburnt areas are vital for maintaining reptile diversity and richness within a woodland landscape after wildfire. These findings demonstrate the importance of ensuring fire management programs retain unburnt patches of vegetation in fire‐prone landscapes to sustain reptile communities.
... We predicted that cat and fox activity would be higher in areas burnt by the prescribed fire, however, we found no strong evidence to support this. Although some studies have found strong evidence of cat or fox activity increasing after fire (Birtsas et al., 2012;McGregor, Cliff, & Kanowski, 2016;Miritis et al., 2023), others have found a negative response (Alexandre et al., 2020;Bird et al., 2018;Lothian et al., 2022), no response (Hradsky, Robley, et al., 2017;Moore et al., 2018;Senior et al., 2022), or a context-dependent response. ...
... Fire regimes that result in large amounts of recently burnt vegetation are likely to heighten predation risk for a variety of spinifex-dependent species by removing the protection from predation that is afforded by spinifex. This predation pressure could be magnified if red foxes and cats are drawn into recently burnt areas, which has recently been demonstrated in the Murray mallee (Senior et al., 2023). Retaining patches of unburnt spinifex within the fire boundary could be one way of maintaining reptile species diversity during prescribed burning. ...
... Retaining patches of unburnt spinifex within the fire boundary could be one way of maintaining reptile species diversity during prescribed burning. In support of this, Senior et al. (2023) found three species of reptile and reptile richness was higher in areas near large unburnt refuges following a prescribed fire in the mallee. ...
Vegetation structure affects predation risk in ecosystems around the world. Spinifex ( Triodia spp.) is a foundation species in fire‐prone grasslands and woodlands that cover more than a third of Australia's land surface. Spinifex habitats are known for their high reptile diversity, and it has long been hypothesized that the spiky structure of spinifex dissuades predators, thereby providing a haven for prey. We investigated predation risk to small lizards in semi‐arid Australia by identifying teeth marks on replica model plasticine lizards, in combination with remote camera surveillance, to quantify and verify predation risk across several microhabitats, including spinifex. The introduced red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) was identified as the main predator of lizard models, constituting 43.9% of all predation attempts. Lizard models placed at the base of spinifex plants ( Triodia scariosa ) were significantly less likely to be attacked than all other microhabitat types (bare ground, leaf litter, burrows), confirming the hypothesis that spinifex reduces predation risk. Our results support recent work that has highlighted foxes as a significant predator of Australian reptiles. Given that fire is a driver of spinifex cover in arid ecosystems, our findings have implications for interactions between fire and invasive predators in Australian ecosystems.
... For instance, cavity nesting birds responded positively to severe burns in dry forests in the United States (Saab et al., 2022). In Australia, reptile species richness after fire in woodlands increased as the amount of unburned vegetation increased and some species responded positively to burn patchiness (Senior et al., 2023). Wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) abundance in woodlands and shrublands in Spain was initially correlated negatively with distance from burn perimeter postfire and later with distance from internal unburned patches (Puig-Gironès et al., 2018). ...
Deserts are often highly biodiverse and provide important habitats for many threatened species. Fire is a dominant disturbance in deserts, and prescribed burning is increasingly being used by conservation managers and Indigenous peoples to mitigate the damaging effects of climate change, invasive plants, and land‐use change. The size, severity, and patchiness of fires can affect how animals respond to fire. However, there are almost no studies examining such burn characteristics in desert environments, which precludes the use of such information in conservation planning. Using a before‐after control‐impact approach with 20 sampling sites, we studied the outcomes of 10 prescribed burns of varying size (5–267 ha), severity, and patchiness to identify which variables best predicted changes in small mammal and reptile species richness and abundance. Three of the 13 species showed a clear response to fire. Captures increased for 2 species (1 mammal, 1 reptile) and decreased for 1 species (a reptile) as the proportional area burned around traps increased. Two other mammal species showed weaker positive responses to fire. Total burn size and burn patchiness were not influential predictors for any species. Changes in capture rates occurred only at sites with the largest and most severe burns. No fire‐related changes in capture rates were observed where fires were small and very patchy. Our results suggest that there may be thresholds of fire size or fire severity that trigger responses to fire, which has consequences for management programs underpinned by the patch mosaic burning paradigm. The prescribed burns we studied, which are typical in scale and intensity across many desert regions, facilitated the presence of some taxa and are unlikely to have widespread or persistent negative impacts on small mammal or reptile communities in this ecosystem provided that long unburned habitat harboring threatened species is protected.
... Moreover, linking information about variation in fire regimes (sometimes called pyrodiversity) provides a powerful way to design more effective fire and conservation strategies (see the sidebar titled Pyrodiversity). A recent field experiment in semiarid Australia indicates that areas subject to patchy planned burns, which are applied to moderate the size of wildfires, can provide habitat for many species of reptiles when unburned refuges are retained (131). A continent-wide analysis of savannah ecosystems in Africa showed that pyrodiversity was influential in wet savannahs, where areas with large variation in fire size, intensity, and timing had 27% more mammal species and 40% more bird species compared to areas with low variation in fire regimes (132). ...
Fire is an integral part of the Earth System and humans have skillfully used fire for millennia. Yet human activities are scaling up and reinforcing each other in ways that are reshaping fire patterns across the planet. We review these changes using the concept of the fire regime, which describes the timing, location, and type of fires. We then explore the consequences of fire regime changes on the biological, chemical, and physical processes that sustain life on Earth. Anthropogenic drivers such as climate change, land use, and invasive species are shifting fire regimes and creating environments unlike any humanity has previously experienced. Although human exposure to extreme wildfire events is increasing, we highlight how knowledge of fire regimes can be mobilized to achieve a wide range of goals, from reducing carbon emissions to promoting biodiversity and human well-being. A fire regime perspective is critical to navigating toward a sustainable future—a better Anthropocene.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Volume 48 is October 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
... The primary evidence comes from a series of studies documenting the exploitation of recently burnt areas by feral cats in tropical northern Australia (McGregor et al. 2014, 2016a. Since then, the number of studies on cat and fox responses to fire has increased markedly (e.g., Bliege Bird et al. 2018;Parkins et al. 2019;McHugh et al. 2020;Stobo-Wilson et al. 2020;Lothian et al. 2022;Spencer et al. 2022;Nalliah et al. 2022;Senior et al. 2022;Hohnen et al. 2023). Hradsky (2020) provided a narrative review of this topic in the context of threatened mammal conservation, but the evidence base has not been subjected to structured, quantitative review. ...
... More detailed aspects of fire, such as fire size, severity and patchiness, are likely to be more ecologically relevant than fire type, but the limited data available from the reviewed studies precluded incorporating these factors into our analyses. One recent study found that spatial characteristics of fire such as patchiness and distance to unburnt vegetation were not influential for foxes, but nor was a simple burnt/unburnt contrast (Senior et al. 2022). Further studies that explicitly test these relationships will help shed light on how foxes and cats respond to fires of varying size, severity and patchiness. ...
Background
Predators and fire shape ecosystems across the globe and these two forces can interact to impact prey populations. This issue is particularly pertinent in Australia where there is considerable scientific and public interest in the post-fire impacts of two invasive predators—the feral cat and red fox. It remains unclear, though, whether increased cat and fox activity in response to fire is a general phenomenon, or whether the responses are highly context-specific and not generalisable.
Results
We reviewed and analysed existing literature and found that a range of positive (e.g., increased activity in burnt areas), negative (decreased activity), and neutral responses have been recorded across different studies and locations. Mixed effects modelling revealed that positive responses to fire were more likely when areas were burnt more recently (shorter time since fire). The mean likelihood of increased activity by cats decreased from 41% at 0 months post-fire to 10% at 100 months post-fire, whereas the mean probability for foxes decreased from 53 to 10%. This suggests that there may be a critical time period immediately post-fire when prey are most vulnerable to elevated impacts of predators, and within which management interventions are likely to be most impactful.
Conclusions
Many of our findings can be identified as potential cases of either mechanistic or apparent context dependency (variation in recorded patterns due to observational and ecological factors). This provides a pathway for the design of future studies that will enhance our understanding of predator responses to fire, both in Australia and globally. Conservation policy and management will benefit from additional research spanning a greater range of ecosystems and fire events, along with a more comprehensive and nuanced interpretation of existing evidence.
... However, this model will not necessarily apply to vegetation types that have low complexity at maturity, such as many of those occurring in arid and semi-arid regions. For example, in semi-arid mallee habitat of south-eastern Australia patterns of fire age-classes had little influence on the frequency of occurrence of termite species (Avitabile et al., 2015) or on reptile diversity (Farnsworth et al., 2014), and most mallee reptile and mammal species occur at both burnt and unburnt sites (Senior et al., 2022). ...
Fire is a dominant process shaping the Australian landscape and in many regions the frequency and severity of wildfires are predicted to increase under climate change. The primary impact of fire on fauna is typically indirect through habitat change. In particular, in mesic forests different animal species are favoured at different times since fire as habitat complexity increases with vegetation recovery. However, this will not necessarily be the case in habitats with low complexity such as many of those occurring in arid and semi‐arid regions. Here, we investigate the relationship between fire history and ant diversity and composition in semi‐arid mallee of south‐eastern Australia. We surveyed ants at 11 sites in the Little Desert National Park and nearby private land that last burnt 0.5, 6 or 40 years ago. We found no relationship between time since fire and either ant diversity or composition, and this can be explained by a lack of relationship between time since fire and vegetation cover. Our findings contrast with those for mallee bird species, which show clear successional patterns following fire, but are likely to be typical of ground‐foraging fauna that lack specialized habitat requirements.
Fire shapes animal communities by altering resource availability and species interactions, including between predators and prey. In Australia, there is particular concern that two highly damaging invasive predators, the feral cat (Felis catus) and European red fox (Vulpes vulpes), increase their activity in recently burnt areas and exert greater predation pressure on the native prey due to their increased exposure. We tested how prescribed fire occurrence and extent, along with fire history, vegetation, topography, and distance to anthropogenic features (towns and farms), affected the activity (detection frequency) of cats, foxes, and the native mammal community in south‐eastern Australia. We used camera traps to quantify mammal activity before and after a prescribed burn and statistically tested how the fire interacted with these habitat variables to affect mammal activity. We found little evidence that the prescribed fire influenced the activity of cats and foxes and no evidence of an effect on kangaroo or small mammal (<800 g) activity. Medium‐sized mammals (800–2000 g) were negatively associated with prescribed fire extent, suggesting that prescribed fire has a negative impact on these species in the short term. The lack of a clear activity increase from cats and foxes is likely a positive outcome from a fire management perspective. However, we highlight that their response is likely dependent upon factors like fire size, severity, and prey availability. Future experiments should incorporate GPS‐trackers to record fine‐scale movements of cats and foxes in temperate ecosystems immediately before and after prescribed fire to best inform management within protected areas.
