Divergent responses of native predators to severe wildfire and biological invasion are mediated by life history.

ABSTRACT: The Anthropocene is defined by rapid environmental changes such as biological invasions and shifting disturbance regimes that threaten native species. Understanding the drivers of endangerment for species facing multiple simultaneous threats is challenging without experimental methods. Here, we examined the relative and combined effects of severe wildfires and an early-stage barred owl (Strix varia) invasion on an assemblage of three native forest owl species in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, leveraging manipulative (lethal barred owl removals) and natural (severe wildfires) experiments and a regional passive acoustic monitoring program from 2018 to 2023. Wildfires reduced flammulated owl (Psiloscops flammeolus) occupancy by 71% in severely burned areas (sites experiencing near-comple

SUBMITTER: Barry JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12602772 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature