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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 16(4)

Post-fire recolonisation of a montado area by the endangered Cabrera vole (Microtus cabrerae)

Inês T. do Rosário A B and Maria da Luz Mathias A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Departamento de Biologia Animal Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.

B Corresponding author. Email: itrosario@yahoo.com

International Journal of Wildland Fire 16(4) 450-457 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF06096
Submitted: 22 June 2006  Accepted: 27 February 2007   Published: 20 August 2007

Abstract

The Cabrera vole is an endangered species frequently found in the montado, a savannah-like ecosystem well adapted to fire. Although it is assumed that regular burning is not very prejudicial to this vole, the impact of fire is unknown. This research studied, for the first time, recolonisation by the Cabrera vole after wildfire. Colonies were monitored over one year after a wildfire and the most relevant ecological features in their reestablishment were identified. During the first eight months, all the 18 surveyed colonies remained unoccupied. However, after one year, 11 were recolonised. Vegetation structure and composition in the colonies (vegetation height, plant families diversity, percentage of bare ground and cover of shrubs before the fire), which are important features in offering protection and nutrition, were closely related to reoccupation of the colonies. Surprisingly, fire intensity did not influence recolonisation. Distance from unburned areas proved to be a factor that delayed recolonisation. The importance of the montado for this species was reinforced by the evidence that recolonisation occurred preferentially in colonies surrounded by this habitat type.

Additional keywords: CAP procedure, distance to unburned areas, MDS, Mediterranean, Portugal, wildfire.


Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SAPIENS project POCTI/BSE/39604/2001 involving FEDER funds and a PhD grant PRAXIS/SFRH/BD/6841/2001). We are grateful to Sara Santos, Maria Peixe Dias and Paulo Cardoso for providing invaluable assistance in the field. We are also grateful to Rui Rebelo, Pedro Segurado, Paulo Cardoso, Sara Santos and Paulo Marques for their constructive criticism, suggestions and friendship. We would also like to thank Rui Rebelo for bringing the post-fire recolonisation issue to our notice.


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