Ecosphere, Journal Year: 2023, Volume and Issue: 14(7)

Published: July 1, 2023

Abstract Increasingly frequent megafires are dramatically altering landscapes and critical habitats around the world. Across western United States, have become an almost annual occurrence, but implication of these fires for conservation native wildlife remains relatively unknown. Woodland savannas among world's most biodiverse ecosystems provide important food structural resources to a variety wildlife, they threatened by megafires. Despite this, great majority fire impact studies only been conducted in coniferous forests. Understanding resistance resilience assemblages following extreme perturbations can help inform future management interventions that limit biodiversity loss due megafire. We assessed woodland savanna mammal community short‐term impacts megafire using camera trap data collected before, during, after fire. Specifically, we utilized 5‐year set (2016–2020) from Hopland Research Extension Center examine 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire, California's largest recorded wildfire at time, on distributions eight observed species. used multispecies occupancy model quantify effects species' space use, assess species size diet groups, create robust estimates fire's diversity across time. Megafire had negative effect detection certain species, overall, showed high disturbance returned site use levels comparable unburned sites end study period. Following megafire, richness was higher burned areas retained canopy cover relative with low cover. Fire prevents large‐scale is providing refugia vulnerable immediately oak woodlands, likely other mixed‐forest landscapes.

Language: Английский