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Can epigeic invertebrates escape fire?

Christopher Swinstead, Paul Nevill, Bill Bateman

Abstract

Context Fire is both a driver of habitat heterogeneity and succession, as well as a destructive and detrimental force, according to the habitat affected and the fire conditions. The responses of many vertebrate taxa to fire have been broadly well-studied, with many taxa seeking shelter, burrowing or fleeing fire fronts to survive. Aims For invertebrates however, the potential for fleeing fire fronts has only been occasionally observed and has not been adequately quantified, despite invertebrate importance to ecosystem services. Methods We conducted a series of leaf litter microcosm burn offs during autumn and spring to quantify escape behaviour of epigeic invertebrate fauna compared to their natural abundances. Key Results Controlled burns indicated that very few invertebrates of very few taxonomic groups escape fire. Those that did escape were predominantly made-up of Araneae, Collembola, and Isopoda. Conclusions Our results indicate that epigeic invertebrates do not survive fire by active escape, implying that recolonisation must take place from outside the burn zone. We cannot, however, be sure that some taxa may survive in situ survival through methods such as burrowing, seeking shelter within fire resistant refugia or by being within small unburnt remnant patches in the case of more mosaic pattern burns. Importantly this calls into question the survivability of short range endemics as if they cannot escape, then they are at risk of more localised extinctions with more intense burns.

PC24051  Accepted 12 December 2024

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