Journal article
Post-fire habitat relationships for birds differ among ecosystems
FW Rainsford, LT Kelly, SWJ Leonard, AF Bennett
Biological Conservation | ELSEVIER SCI LTD | Published : 2021
Abstract
Knowledge of how factors such as climate, plant regeneration traits and fire characteristics influence the rate and pattern of post-fire habitat change is crucial for strategic fire management and biodiversity conservation in fire-affected areas. Yet knowledge of when and where these factors are in play, and how species-habitat relationships differ among ecosystems, is limited. We modelled the responses of 43 bird species to habitat attributes, sampled along a 79-year post-fire chronosequence in three eucalypt-dominated ecosystems characterised by tree species with either basal or epicormic regeneration traits. In each ecosystem, birds responded to habitat attributes known to be related to t..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment
Funding Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments We acknowledge the Taungurung and Eastern Maar people, and the First People of the MillewaMallee, being the Latji Latji, Ngintait and Nyeri Nyeri people as the traditional custodians of the land on which this study took place. We thank Rick Taylor and Simon Watson, who collected bird data in mallee woodlands. We also thank the following people who contributed to data collection and collation in the mallee: Sarah Avitabile, Lauren Brown, Kate Callister, Mike Clarke, Angie Haslem, Greg Holland, Sally Kenny, Dale Nimmo and Lisa SpenceBailey. This research was funded by La Trobe University Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution; an Australian Research Council Link-age Project (LP150100765) ; the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment; and the Victorian Government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.