TY - JOUR
T1 - Short-term effects of prescribed fire on lizards in mesquite-ashe juniper vegetation in central texas
AU - Radke, Nikki J.
AU - Wester, David B.
AU - Perry, Gad
AU - Rideout-Hanzak, Sandra
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. This research was conducted with the approval of the Animal Care and Use Committee, Texas Tech University, ACUC# 06052-08. We wish to thank Richard Taylor for his cooperation and the Texas Army National Guard for funding this research. This is manuscript T-9-1108 of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University.
PY - 2008/9/1
Y1 - 2008/9/1
N2 - Prescribed fire is a common land management tool used to reduce undesirable shrubs, improve forage quality, and enhance wildlife habitat for game species. However, it also has impacts on nongame species. We examined whether a prescribed fire would affect the abundance of lizards and invertebrates in central Texas. In February 2004, four sites were treated with low-intensity prescribed fires; four adjacent non-burned sites served as controls. Vegetation structure (litter depth, percent canopy cover, visual obstruction) and foliar cover were recorded prior to and seasonally following the burn. Lizards and potential invertebrate prey were collected from all plots between March and August 2004 (152 traps, 5908 trap nights). Lizard numbers were not significantly (P > 0.312) affected by the fire, nor were their potential prey or habitat greatly affected. Burning reduced numbers of Homoptera (P < 0.031), and Diptera were more abundant in burned plots in May (P < 0.002), but no other effects were detected (P <0.05 for all other taxa). Burning did not affect vegetation structure (P > 0.25 for all measures); however, foliar cover of Texas wintergrass was lower in burned plots in March but recovered to non-burned levels by May. Our results suggest that small-scale, low-intensity fires have minimal impact on central Texas lizards, the vegetation structure of their habitat, or the invertebrates of their diet.
AB - Prescribed fire is a common land management tool used to reduce undesirable shrubs, improve forage quality, and enhance wildlife habitat for game species. However, it also has impacts on nongame species. We examined whether a prescribed fire would affect the abundance of lizards and invertebrates in central Texas. In February 2004, four sites were treated with low-intensity prescribed fires; four adjacent non-burned sites served as controls. Vegetation structure (litter depth, percent canopy cover, visual obstruction) and foliar cover were recorded prior to and seasonally following the burn. Lizards and potential invertebrate prey were collected from all plots between March and August 2004 (152 traps, 5908 trap nights). Lizard numbers were not significantly (P > 0.312) affected by the fire, nor were their potential prey or habitat greatly affected. Burning reduced numbers of Homoptera (P < 0.031), and Diptera were more abundant in burned plots in May (P < 0.002), but no other effects were detected (P <0.05 for all other taxa). Burning did not affect vegetation structure (P > 0.25 for all measures); however, foliar cover of Texas wintergrass was lower in burned plots in March but recovered to non-burned levels by May. Our results suggest that small-scale, low-intensity fires have minimal impact on central Texas lizards, the vegetation structure of their habitat, or the invertebrates of their diet.
KW - Invertebrates
KW - Lizards
KW - Prescribed fire
KW - Short-term effects
KW - Vegetation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70349165430&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1163/157075408785911039
DO - 10.1163/157075408785911039
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:70349165430
SN - 1570-7539
VL - 5
SP - 281
EP - 292
JO - Applied Herpetology
JF - Applied Herpetology
IS - 3
ER -