Declines revisited: Long-term recovery and spatial population dynamics of tailed frog larvae after wildfire

Hossack BR and Honeycutt RK. 2017. Declines revisited: Long-term recovery and spatial population dynamics of tailed frog larvae after wildfire. Biological Conservation. 212(Part A):274-278

Drought has fueled an increased frequency and severity of large wildfires in many ecosystems. Despite an increase in research on wildfire effects on vertebrates, the vast majority of it has focused on short-term ( 58% within 12 years after the fire. We also found moderate synchrony among populations in unburned streams and negative spatial autocorrelation among populations in burned streams. We suspect negative spatial autocorrelation among spatially-clustered burned streams reflected increased post-fire patchiness in resources and different rates of local recovery. Our results add to a growing body of work that suggests populations in intact ecosystems tend to be resilient to habitat changes caused by wildfire. Our results also provide important insights into recovery times of populations that have been negatively affected by severe wildfire.

Type
Journal Article
Authors
Hossack, Blake; Honeycutt, R
Units
CRCO , GLAC
Keywords
Amphibian, Disturbance, Drought, Fire, Population synchrony, Spatial autocorrelation
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Amphibians and Reptiles

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