Monitoring the Response of Butterfly Communities to Prescribed Fire |
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Authors: | Erica Fleishman |
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Institution: | (1) Center for Conservation Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA, US |
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Abstract: | Federal land managers in the western United States are interested in the potential of prescribed fire as a tool to decrease
fuel loads, increase vegetational heterogeneity, and increase faunal diversity in various ecosystems. I tested whether implementation
of a prescribed fire program by the US Forest Service in a watershed in the central Great Basin had significant effects on
butterfly species richness and composition. I monitored butterfly communities during the first two years after implementation
in five to seven burn units and controls in the watershed. To estimate baseline spatial and temporal variation in butterfly
communities in the greater ecosystem, I also monitored butterflies in five untreated canyons outside the project area. Butterfly
species richness and butterfly species composition (measured as community similarity) did not differ significantly between
burn units and controls. Geographic location had statistically significant effects on species richness. Butterfly species
composition of individual locations varied over time, as did the magnitude of that variation. These results emphasize that
standardized, repeatable monitoring protocols are vital for evaluating the effects of experimental management treatments and
for predicting and assessing the effects of future management strategies and environmental changes. |
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Keywords: | : Prescribed fire Ecosystem management Adaptive management Monitoring Butterflies Conservation |
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