Small mammal responses to fire severity mediated by vegetation characteristics and species traits.

ABSTRACT: The frequency of large, high-severity "mega-fires" has increased in recent decades, with numerous consequences for forest ecosystems. In particular, small mammal communities are vulnerable to post-fire shifts in resource availability and play critical roles in forest ecosystems. Inconsistencies in previous observations of small mammal community responses to fire severity underscore the importance of examining mechanisms regulating the effects of fire severity on post-fire recovery of small mammal communities. We compared small mammal abundance, diversity, and community structure among habitats that burned at different severities, and used vegetation characteristics and small mammal functional traits to predict community responses to fire severity three years after one mega-fire in the Sier

SUBMITTER: Culhane K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9120878 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature