Fire effects on Cape Sable seaside sparrow demography
Lockwood JL. 2003. Fire effects on Cape Sable seaside sparrow demography
Between 1948 and 1992 the wetland areas of Everglades National Park experienced 752 fires for an average of 17 fires per year (Gunderson and Snyder 1994). Fire is a necessary component of the Everglades. It maintains a habitat mosaic and prevents hardwood shrubs from invading the characteristically open Everglades marshes (Robertson 1953, Egler 1952, Taylor 1983). The Cape Sable seaside sparrow (Ammodramus miratimus mirabilis), an endangered subspecies endemic to the southern Everglades, relies on marl prairies that are influenced by fire regimes (Werner 1975). The sparrow lives exclusively on Federally protected land, principally within Everglades National Park (ENP). Currently ENP manages fires through prescribed burning and strategic control of naturally caused fires. Of central concern to ENP officials is the development of a fire management protocol that promotes USFWS recovery goals for this subspecies.The conception of this fire management plan is profoundly inhibited by the lack of knowledge surrounding the sparrow's response to, and recovery from, fire. I propose a detailed demographic study of individuals subjected to a recent fire event. By allowing a recent fire to burn through a portion of an existing study plot, I have the option of utilizing a study design that can better detect fire effects than previous research. This includes evaluating the possibility that sparrow populations are not noticeably effected by fire (except through the immediate loss of individuals), and evaluating the nature of any lasting population effects. The demographic information collected can also be used to project the fates of sparrow populations subjected to proposed fire management plans (Whelan 1995). This study is designed to compliment existing information on how sparrow populations respond to flooding regimes, allowing for the possibility of projecting population changes caused by the combined effects of fire and flood. Finally, conceptually this study fits squarely between concurrent research, and thus can serve to mechanistically tie together fire effects observed at other spatial and temporal scales.