Avian responses to the diversity and configuration of fire age classes and vegetation types across a rainfall gradient

Abstract

In many regions, planned burns are implemented to reduce fuel loads and mitigate wildfire risk; increasingly, they are also used to achieve conservation outcomes. However, there is uncertainty regarding how best to apply fire to landscapes in order to enhance biodiversity. The assumption that variable fire regimes are conducive to biodiversity conservation is appealing given its basis in landscape ecological theory, which predicts that spatially complex landscapes sustain greater biodiversity. This supposition is often used as a basis for fire management but has rarely been tested in the context of fire. We sought to test predicted positive relationships between bird diversity and both lands..