Bat response to differing fire severity in mixed-conifer forest California, USA

M.R. Buchalski; J.B. Fontaine; P.A. Heady; J.P. Hayes; W.F. Frick

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057884

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Bat response to differing fire severity in mixed-conifer forest California, USA

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Bat response to differing fire severity in mixed-conifer forest California, USA

M.R. Buchalski, J.B. Fontaine, P.A. Heady, J.P. Hayes and W.F. Frick

PLoS ONE, Vol.8(3), e57884

2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057884

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Abstract

Wildlife response to natural disturbances such as fire is of conservation concern to managers, policy makers, and scientists, yet information is scant beyond a few well-studied groups (e.g., birds, small mammals). We examined the effects of wildfire severity on bats, a taxon of high conservation concern, at both the stand (<1 ha) and landscape scale in response to the 2002 McNally fire in the Sierra Nevada region of California, USA. One year after fire, we conducted surveys of echolocation activity at 14 survey locations, stratified in riparian and upland habitat, in mixed-conifer forest habitats spanning three levels of burn severity: unburned, moderate, and high. Bat activity in burned areas was either equivalent or higher than in unburned stands for all six phonic groups measured, with four groups having significantly greater activity in at least one burn severity level. Evidence of differentiation between fire severities was observed with some Myotis species having higher levels of activity in stands of high-severity burn. Larger-bodied bats, typically adapted to more open habitat, showed no response to fire. We found differential use of riparian and upland habitats among the phonic groups, yet no interaction of habitat type by fire severity was found. Extent of high-severity fire damage in the landscape had no effect on activity of bats in unburned sites suggesting no landscape effect of fire on foraging site selection and emphasizing stand-scale conditions driving bat activity. Results from this fire in mixed-conifer forests of California suggest that bats are resilient to landscape-scale fire and that some species are preferentially selecting burned areas for foraging, perhaps facilitated by reduced clutter and increased post-fire availability of prey and roosts

Details

Title: Bat response to differing fire severity in mixed-conifer forest California, USA
Authors/Creators: M.R. Buchalski (Author/Creator) - Western Michigan University
J.B. Fontaine (Author/Creator)
P.A. Heady (Author/Creator) - Central Coast Bat Research Group, Aptos, California, United States of America
J.P. Hayes (Author/Creator) - University of Florida
W.F. Frick (Author/Creator) - University of California, Santa Cruz
Publication Details: PLoS ONE, Vol.8(3), e57884
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Identifiers: 991005544221107891
Copyright: © 2013 Buchalski et al.
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Note: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology; 3.35.1587 Chiroptera
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology
ESI research areas: Plant & Animal Science