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Santos X, Chergui B, Belliure J, Moreira F, Pausas JG. Reptile responses to fire across the western Mediterranean Basin. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024:e14326. [PMID: 38949049 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Revised: 04/23/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Effects of anthropogenic activities, including climate change, are modifying fire regimes, and the dynamic nature of these modifications requires identification of general patterns of organisms' responses to fire. This is a challenging task because of the high complexity of factors involved (including climate, geography, land use, and species-specific ecology). We aimed to describe the responses of the reptile community to fire across a range of environmental and fire-history conditions in the western Mediterranean Basin. We sampled 8 sites that spanned 4 Mediterranean countries. We recorded 6064 reptile sightings of 36 species in 1620 transects and modeled 3 community metrics (total number of individuals, species richness, and Shannon diversity) as responses to environmental and fire-history variables. Reptile community composition was also analyzed. Habitat type (natural vs. afforestation), fire age class (time since the last fire), rainfall, and temperature were important factors in explaining these metrics. The total number of individuals varied according to fire age class, reaching a peak at 15-40 years after the last fire. Species richness and Shannon diversity were more stable during postfire years. The 3 community metrics were higher under postfire conditions than in unburned forest plots. This pattern was particularly prevalent in afforested plots, indicating that the negative effect of fire on reptiles was lower than the negative effect of afforestation. Community composition varied by fire age class, indicating the existence of early- and late-successional species (xeric and saxicolous vs. mesic reptiles, respectively). Species richness was 46% higher in areas with a single fire age class relative to those with a mixture of fire age classes, which indicates pyrodiverse landscapes promoted reptile diversity. An expected shift to more frequent fires will bias fire age distribution toward a predominance of early stages, and this will be harmful to reptile communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xavier Santos
- CIBIO/InBIO (Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
| | - Brahim Chergui
- Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique, Conservation de la Biodiversité, LESCB URL-CNRST N°18, FS, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tétouan, Morocco
| | - Josabel Belliure
- Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group (GloCEE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco Moreira
- CIBIO/InBIO (Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
- Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources/Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (CIBIO/InBIO), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Juli G Pausas
- Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CIDE-CSIC), Moncada, Spain
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Puig-Gironès R, Santos X, Bros V. Long-interval effects of wildfires on the functional diversity of land snails. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 876:162677. [PMID: 36894101 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2022] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
In fire-prone regions, fire is a major natural disturbance which shapes ecosystem function and community composition. Fire has a direct and dramatic effect on soil fauna and, especially, on non-mobile species such as land snails. The factors that make the Mediterranean Basin a fire-prone region may also lead to the appearance after fires of certain functional traits related to ecological and physiological characteristics. Knowledge of how community structure and function change along the post-fire succession will be useful for understanding the processes that drive biodiversity patterns in burnt areas and for implementing appropriate biodiversity management strategies. Here, we examine long-interval taxonomic and functional changes occurred in a snail community four and 18 years after a fire in the Sant Llorenç del Munt i l'Obac Natural Park (NE Spain). Our field-based study demonstrates that the land snail assemblage responds both taxonomically and functionally to fire and that there was a clear replacement of dominant species from the first to the second sampling period. Variation in community composition between different post-fire ages can be attributed to snail species traits and successional changes in post-fire habitat conditions. At taxonomic level, there was great variation in snail species turnover between both periods, being the development of the understorey vegetation structure the main driver of this variation. The replacement of functional traits between times since fire suggests that xerophilic and mesophilic preferences play an important role after fire and are largely determined by the complexity of post-fire microhabitats. Our analysis indicates that immediately after a fire there is a time-window of opportunity that attracts species specializing in early successional habitats, which thereafter are replaced due to the changing conditions resulting from succession. Consequently, knowing the functional traits of species is important for determining the impacts of disturbances on the taxonomic and functional communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Puig-Gironès
- Departament de Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Girona, C. Maria Aurèlia Capmany 69, 17003 Girona, Catalonia, Spain; Equip de Biologia de la Conservació, Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals & Institut de la Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBIO), Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
| | - Xavier Santos
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, R. Padre Armando Quintas s/n, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - Vicenç Bros
- Oficina Tècnica de Parcs Naturals, Diputació de Barcelona, Urgell 187, 08036 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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Functional group analyses of herpetofauna in South Korea using a large dataset. Sci Data 2023; 10:15. [PMID: 36604446 PMCID: PMC9816106 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01924-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Functional traits are characteristics of species that affect their fitness and ecosystem, and they greatly influence ecological niches. Thus, biodiversity assessment based on functional groups rather than species per se can more realistically reflect the ecological niche space. As essential players of ecosystem functions, herpetofauna are appropriate subjects of functional trait-based analyses. In this study, using a nationwide dataset and applying trait information and ecological niche modeling, the richness within each functional group, and the taxonomic and functional diversity indices of South Korean herpetofauna were visualized to identify and compare the geographic distributions. The results revealed that the reptile community seemed more locally diverse with more overlapping randomized patterns among groups than amphibians, while amphibians showed wider distributions and a higher within-grid occurrence ratio. Functional diversity indices of reptiles also showed more randomized geographic patterns with higher levels at Jejudo Island than amphibians. The findings of this study may help to identify biodiversity hot spots and understand its ecosystem health. Increasing survey data and trait information will improve the assessment.
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Diversity patterns of lizard assemblages from a protected habitat mosaic in the Brazilian Cerrado savanna. JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1017/s0266467422000244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Differences in habitat complexity and structure can directly influence the composition, diversity, and structure of species assemblages. Measurements of functional and phylogenetic diversity complement the commonly used measurements of taxonomic diversity, elucidating the relationships between species, their traits, and their evolutionary history. In this study, we evaluated how the mosaic of open and forested formations in a federal conservation unit in the western portion of the Brazilian Cerrado savanna influences the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic structure of lizard assemblages. Lizards were sampled for 15 months using pitfall traps set in open and forested formations. We recorded 292 lizards distributed among 16 species from eight families, with species composition differing among the formations. Richness was greater in the assemblages from open formations, while functional diversity and phylogenetic variability were greater in those of forested formations. Lizard assemblages in open formations were functionally and phylogenetically clustered, probably as a result of environmental filters acting on species, while the assemblages from forested formations were randomly structured. Different environmental and historical mechanisms have apparently shaped the current diversity of lizards in the region. This study shows that Cerrado vegetation mosaics can promote wide variation in different aspects of the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic structure from the lizard assemblages.
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Barros RA, Dorado‐Rodrigues TF, Strüssmann C. Taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of lizard assemblages across habitats and seasons in a Brazilian Cerrado area. AUSTRAL ECOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.13181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Assis Barros
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade Instituto de Biociências Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060‐900 Brazil
- Laboratório de Herpetologia Centro de Biodiversidade Instituto de Biociências Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060900 Brazil
| | - Tainá Figueras Dorado‐Rodrigues
- Laboratório de Herpetologia Centro de Biodiversidade Instituto de Biociências Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060900 Brazil
| | - Christine Strüssmann
- Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060900 Brazil
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MDIR Monthly Ignition Risk Maps, an Integrated Open-Source Strategy for Wildfire Prevention. FORESTS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/f13030408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Countries unaccustomed to wildfires are currently experiencing wildfire as a new climate-change reality. Understanding how fire ignition and propagation are correlated with temperature, orography, humidity, wind, and the mixture and age of individual plants must be considered when designing prevention strategies. While wildfire prevention focuses on fire ignition avoidance, firefighting success depends on early ignition detection, meaning that, in either case, ignition plays a major role. The current case study considered three Portuguese municipalities that annually observe frequent fire ignitions (Tomar, Ourém, and Ferreira do Zêzere) as the testing ground for the Modernized Dynamic Ignition Risk (MDIR) strategy, thus evaluating the efficiency of MDIR and the efficacy of the variables used. This methodology uses geographic information systems technology sustained by open-source satellite imagery, along with the Habitat Risk Assessment model from the InVEST software package, as drivers for the MDIR application. The MDIR approach grants frequent update capabilities and fully open-sourced high ignition risk area identification, producing monthly ignition risk maps. The advantage of using this method is the ease of adaptation to any current monitoring strategy, awarding further efficiency and efficacy in reducing ignitions. The approach delivered adequate results in estimating ignitions for the three Portuguese municipalities, achieving, for several months, prediction accuracy percentages of over 70%. For the studied area, MDIR clearly identifies areas of high ignition risk and delivers an average of 62% success in predicting ignitions, thus showing potential for analyzing the impact of policy implementation and monitoring through the strategy design.
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Fernández-Guisuraga JM, Calvo L, Suárez-Seoane S. Monitoring post-fire neighborhood competition effects on pine saplings under different environmental conditions by means of UAV multispectral data and structure-from-motion photogrammetry. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022; 305:114373. [PMID: 34954682 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2021] [Revised: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/19/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
In burned landscapes, the recruitment success of the tree dominant species mainly depends on plant competition mechanisms operating at fine spatial scale, that may hinder resource availability during the former years after the disturbance. Data acquisition at very high spatial resolution from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have promoted new opportunities for understanding context-dependent competition processes in post-fire environments. Here, we explored the potentiality of UAV-borne data for assessing inter-specific competition effects of understory woody vegetation on pine saplings, as well as intra-specific interactions of neighboring saplings, across three burned landscapes located along a climatic/productivity gradient in the Iberian Peninsula. Geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA), including multiresolution segmentation and support vector machine (SVM) classification, was used to map pine saplings and understory shrubs at species level. Input data were, on the one hand, multispectral (11.31 cm·pixel-1) and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) canopy height model (CHM) data fusion, hereafter MS-CHM, and, on the other, RGB (3.29 cm·pixel-1) and CHM data fusion, hereafter RGB-CHM. A Random Forest (RF) regression algorithm was used to evaluate the effects of neighborhood competition on the relative growth in height of 50 pine saplings randomly sampled across the MS-CHM classified map. Circular plots of 3 m radius were set from the centroid of each target pine sapling to measure percentage cover, mean height of all individuals in the plot and mean height of individuals contacting the target sapling. Competing shrub species were differentiated according to their fire-adaptive traits (i.e. seeders vs resprouters). Object-based image classification applied on MS-CHM yielded higher overall accuracy for the three sites (83.67% ± 3.06%) than RGB-CHM (74.33% ± 3.21%). Intra-specific competitive effects were not detected, whereas increasing cover and height of shrub neighbors had a significant non-linear impact on the growth on pine saplings across the study sites. The strongest competitive effects of seeder shrubs occurred in open areas with low vegetation cover and fuel continuity, following a gap-dependent model. The non-linear relationships evidenced in this study between the structure of neighboring shrubs and the growth of pine seedlings/saplings have profound implications for considering possible competing thresholds in post-fire decision-making processes. These results endorse the use of UAV multispectral and SfM photogrammetry as a valuable post-fire management tool for measuring accurately the effect of competition in heterogeneous burned landscapes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Leonor Calvo
- Area of Ecology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of León, 24071,León, Spain
| | - Susana Suárez-Seoane
- Department of Organisms and Systems Biology (Ecology Unit) and Research Unit of Biodiversity (UO-CSIC-PA), University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Mieres, Spain
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Infante J, Novoa FJ, Ibarra JT, Melnick DJ, Griffin KL, Bonacic C. Altered fire regimes modify lizard communities in globally endangered Araucaria forests of the southern Andes. Sci Rep 2021; 11:22709. [PMID: 34811437 PMCID: PMC8609011 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02169-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Wildfire regimes are being altered in ecosystems worldwide. The density of reptiles responds to fires and changes to habitat structure. Some of the most vulnerable ecosystems to human-increased fire frequency are old-growth Araucaria araucana forests of the southern Andes. We investigated the effects of wildfires on the density and richness of a lizard community in these ecosystems, considering fire frequency and elapsed time since last fire. During the 2018/2019 southern summer season, we conducted 71 distance sampling transects to detect lizards in Araucaria forests of Chile in four fire "treatments": (1) unburned control, (2) long-term recovery, (3) short-term recovery, and (4) burned twice. We detected 713 lizards from 7 species. We found that the density and richness of lizards are impacted by wildfire frequency and time of recovery, mediated by the modification of habitat structure. The lizard community varied from a dominant arboreal species (L. pictus) in unburned and long-recovered stands, to a combination of ground-dwelling species (L. lemniscatus and L. araucaniensis) in areas affected by two fires. Araucaria forests provided key habitat features to forest reptiles after fires, but the persistence of these old-growth forests and associated biodiversity may be threatened given the increase in fire frequency.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Infante
- Fauna Australis Wildlife Laboratory, Department of Ecosystems and Environment, School of Agronomy and Forestry, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436, Santiago, Chile. .,Programa de Doctorado en Ecosistemas Forestales y Recursos Naturales & Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile.
| | - Fernando J. Novoa
- grid.7870.80000 0001 2157 0406Fauna Australis Wildlife Laboratory, Department of Ecosystems and Environment, School of Agronomy and Forestry, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Santiago, Chile ,grid.7870.80000 0001 2157 0406ECOS (Ecosystem-Complexity-Society) Co-Laboratory, Center for Local Development (CEDEL) & Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (CIIR), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Villarrica Campus, O’Higgins 501, Villarrica, Chile
| | - José Tomás Ibarra
- grid.7870.80000 0001 2157 0406Fauna Australis Wildlife Laboratory, Department of Ecosystems and Environment, School of Agronomy and Forestry, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Santiago, Chile ,grid.7870.80000 0001 2157 0406ECOS (Ecosystem-Complexity-Society) Co-Laboratory, Center for Local Development (CEDEL) & Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (CIIR), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Villarrica Campus, O’Higgins 501, Villarrica, Chile ,grid.7870.80000 0001 2157 0406Millennium Nucleus Center for the Socioeconomic Impact of Environmental Policies (CESIEP) & Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Santiago, Chile
| | - Don J. Melnick
- grid.21729.3f0000000419368729Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA
| | - Kevin L. Griffin
- grid.21729.3f0000000419368729Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964 USA
| | - Cristián Bonacic
- grid.7870.80000 0001 2157 0406Fauna Australis Wildlife Laboratory, Department of Ecosystems and Environment, School of Agronomy and Forestry, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Santiago, Chile
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S'khifa A, Koziel G, Vences M, Carretero MA, Slimani T. Ecophysiology of a lacertid community in the high Moroccan mountains suggests conservation guidelines. J Therm Biol 2020; 94:102743. [PMID: 33292984 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2020] [Revised: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Lizard species may differ in their ecophysiology due to adaptation, plasticity and/or phylogeny. In restrictive environments, ecophysiological differences of species living in sympatry are expected to reveal long-term evolutionary responses to the abiotic environment while competitive interactions should be limited. These influences can be disentangled by combining field monitoring with experimental tests. Here, three lacertid lizard species, Atlantolacerta andreanskyi, Scelarcis perspicillata and Podarcis vaucheri sharing high mountain habitats in Oukaimeden (High Atlas, Morocco), were studied. In the field, spatiotemporal variation of the thermal and hydric environment used by the lizards was monitored using data-loggers. In the lab, thermal and hydric ecophysiology was estimated through assessments of preferred temperatures (Tp) and water loss (WL) rates. Species differed in microhabitat use and, hence, in their exposure to variations in temperature and humidity. However, they only differed in their WL (A. andreanskyi > S. perspicillata > P. vaucheri) while their Tp were similar. Such partial differences of species in in the fundamental niche, likely derived from their long-term independent phylogenetic trajectories, can be used to predict their responses to climate and habitat shifts in this and other parts of their respective ranges. Results also confirm previous suggestions that, together with thermal physiology, hydric physiology plays a prominent role in the organisation of lizard communities in the temperate region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abderrahim S'khifa
- Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics Laboratory, Cadi Ayyad University, PO Box: 2390, Marrakech 40 000, Morocco
| | - Giannina Koziel
- Zoological Institute. Braunschweig University of Technology, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Miguel Vences
- Zoological Institute. Braunschweig University of Technology, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Miguel A Carretero
- CIBIO Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas No. 7. 4485-661 Vairão, Vila do Conde, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
| | - Tahar Slimani
- Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics Laboratory, Cadi Ayyad University, PO Box: 2390, Marrakech 40 000, Morocco.
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