The effects of wildfire severity and pyrodiversity on bat occupancy and diversity in fire-suppressed forests.

ABSTRACT: Wildfire is an important ecological process that influences species' occurrence and biodiversity generally. Its effect on bats is understudied, creating challenges for habitat management and species conservation as threats to the taxa worsen globally and within fire-prone ecosystems. We conducted acoustic surveys of wildfire areas during 2014-2017 in conifer forests of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. We tested effects of burn severity and its variation, or pyrodiversity, on occupancy and diversity for the 17-species bat community while accounting for imperfect detection. Occupancy rates increased with severity for at least 6 species and with pyrodiversity for at least 3. Two other species responded negatively to pyrodiversity. Individual species models predicted maximum occupancy rat

SUBMITTER: Steel ZL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6895131 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature