Short-term responses of reptile assemblages to fire in native and weedy tropical savannah
- Abom, Rickard
- Schwarzkopf, Lin
DOIAbstract
Fire is frequently used as a management tool to reduce the cover of weeds, to reduce the amount of fuel available for future fires, and to create succession mosaics that may enhance biodiversity. We determined the influence of fire on wildlife, by quantifying reptile assemblage composition in response to fire in a weedy environment characterised by very short-term fire return intervals (<2 years). We used reptiles because they are often understudied, and are only moderately vagile compared to other vertebrates, and they respond strongly to changes in vegetation structure. We repeatedly sampled 24 replicate sampling sites after they had been unburned for two years, just prior to burning (pre-burnt), just after burning (post-burnt), and up to...
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