Special Issue: Fire and Wildlife Interactions
Author: Susan L. Roberts
Pages: 1-2
Fire regimes and vegetation structure and composition form a direct feedback loop, where fire regimes shape patterns in the vegetation and vegetation affects fire regime attributes. For decades, researchers focused their attention on the essential relationships between fire and vegetation; however, there is a vast gap in our knowledge about the more mobile inhabitants of these habitats. Read More.
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Wildland Fire: An Opportunistic Event for Reintroducing a Native Salmonid
Author: Julie E. Korb, Jim White, Mike Japhet
Pages: 3-14
The Missionary Ridge Fire (summer 2002) burned approximately 28 520 ha in the San Juan Basin, Colorado. Prior to the fire, no native Colorado River cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus) had been observed in the San Juan Basin for over 100 yr due to over-fishing, introduction of non-native fishes, and habitat alteration. Mud and ash flows into the Florida River in fall 2002 and spring 2003 resulted in a complete fish kill of non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). Read More.
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Red-headed Woodpecker Density and Productivity in Relation to Time Since Fire in Burned Pine Forests
Author: Kerri T. Vierling, Dale J. Gentry
Pages: 15-25
Red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) populations are declining range wide, and fire is an important process necessary for creating their habitat throughout their range. In order to evaluate the effect of fire on the density and reproduction of this species, we examined nesting activities of red-headed woodpeckers from 2001 to 2005 in landscapes dominated by fires of different ages. Read More.
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American Three-toed Woodpecker Response to Burn Severity and Prey Availability at Multiple Spatial Scales
Author: Natasha B. Kotliar, Elizabeth W. Reynolds, Douglas H. Deutschman
Pages: 26-45
We evaluated American three-toed woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis) response to spatial heterogeneity of burn severity and prey availability over multiple scales at the 56 000 ha Hayman Fire (2002) located in the Colorado Front Range. In 2003 and 2004, we quantified the response of three-toed woodpeckers to burn severity, beetle occurrence, and tree size at three levels: home-range scale (36 ha), foraging patches (~1 ha), and trees within foraging patches. Read More.
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Wintering Grassland Bird Habitat Selection Following Summer Prescribed Fire in a Texas Gulf Coast Tallgrass Prairie
Author: Damion E. Marx, Sallie J. Hejl, Garth Herring
Pages: 46-62
We examined changes in winter habitat use by four grassland passerine birds in response to summer prescribed burning within a Texas gulf coast tallgrass prairie during 2001 and 2002. We used a traditional Before-After/Control-Impact (BACI) design consisting of one treatment plot (burned during summer 2001) and one control plot (no burning during the study period, but burned in previous years) at two study areas. Examination of use versus availability suggested that savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) preferred recently burned patches. Read More.
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Responses in Bird Communities to Wildland Fires in Southern California
Author: Mark B. Mendelsohn, Cheryl S. Brehme, Carlton J. Rochester, Drew C. Stokes, Stacie A. Hathaway, Robert N. Fisher
Pages: 63-82
There is a growing body of literature covering the responses of bird species to wildland fire events. Our study was unique among these because we investigated the effects of large-scale wildland fires on entire bird communities across multiple vegetation types. We conducted avian point counts during the breeding seasons for two years before and two years after the Cedar and Otay Fires in 2003 in southern California. Read More.
Abstract: HTML Full Text: PDF (626KB) Appendices: Appendix I | Appendix II
Modeling the Effects of Fire Severity and Spatial Complexity on Small Mammals in Yosemite National Park, California
Author: Susan L. Roberts, Jan W. van Wagtendonk, A. Keith Miles, Douglas A. Kelt, James A. Lutz
Pages: 83-104
We evaluated the impact of fire severity and related spatial and vegetative parameters on small mammal populations in 2 yr- to 15 yr-old burns in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. We also developed habitat models that would predict small mammal responses to fires of differing severity. We hypothesized that fire severity would influence the abundances of small mammals through changes in vegetation composition, structure, and spatial habitat complexity. Read More.
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Truffle Abundance in Recently Prescribed Burned and Unburned Forests in Yosemite National Park: Implications for Mycophagous Mammals
Author: Marc D. Meyer, Malcolm P. North, Susan L. Roberts
Pages: 105-114
Truffles are an important food resource for wildlife in North American forests, but decades of fire exclusion have altered the availability of this resource. In Yosemite National Park, resource management policies seek to restore essential forest processes such as fire while minimizing adverse ecological impacts that may result from burning decades of accumulated fuels. Read More.
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What Constitutes a Natural Fire Regime? Insight from the Ecology and Distribution of Coniferous Forest Birds in North America
Author: Richard L. Hutto, Courtney J. Conway, Victoria A. Saab, Jeffrey R. Walters
Pages: 115-132
Bird species that specialize in the use of burned forest conditions can provide insight into the prehistoric fire regimes associated with the forest types that they have occupied over evolutionary time. The nature of their adaptations reflects the specific post-fire conditions that occurred prior to the unnatural influence of humans after European settlement. Read More.
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Indirect Effects of Fire Severity on Avian Communities in Ponderosa Pine and Aspen Forests in Western North America: A Review
Author: Kerri Vierling, Leigh Lentile
Pages: 133-149
We evaluated the impact of fire severity and related spatial and vegetative parameters on small mammal populations in 2 yr- to 15 yr-old burns in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. We also developed habitat models that would predict small mammal responses to fires of differing severity. We hypothesized that fire severity would influence the abundances of small mammals through changes in vegetation composition, structure, and spatial habitat complexity. Read More.
Full Text: PDF (330KB)