Burn at specific time of year

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    50%
  • Certainty
    40%
  • Harms
    0%

Study locations

Key messages

  • Two studies evaluated the effects on mammals of burning at a specific time of year. One study was in Australia, and one was in the USA.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

POPULATION RESPONSE (1 STUDY)

  • Abundance (1 study): A replicated, randomized, controlled, before-and-after study in the USA found that carrying out prescribed burns in autumn did not increase small mammal abundances or biomass relative to burning in summer.
  • Survival (1 study): A randomized, replicated, controlled study in Australia found that in forest burned early in the dry season, northern brown bandicoot survival rate declined less than in forests burned late in the dry season.

BEHAVIOUR (0 STUDIES)

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A randomized, replicated, controlled study in 1989–1995 of a forest site in Northern Territory, Australia (Pardon et al. 2003) found that in forest burned early in the dry season, northern brown bandicoot Isoodon macrourus survival rate declined less than in forests burned late in the dry season. In early burn sites, the bimonthly survival rate fell during the study from 0.76 to 0.59 compared to a larger reduction in sites burned later in the year, from 0.78 to 0.19. Four compartments each extended across 15–20 km2. Two were burned early in the dry season (May–June) and two were burned late in the dry season (September–October, mimicking wildfire). Treatments were assigned randomly to compartments and were applied annually in 1990–1994. Bandicoots were surveyed by live-trapping in each compartment, over two nights, bimonthly, from July 1989 to May 1995.

    Study and other actions tested
  2. A replicated, randomized, controlled, before-and-after study in 2001–2004 of a coniferous woodland in California, USA (Monroe & Converse 2006) found that carrying out prescribed burns in autumn did not increase small mammal abundances or biomass relative to burning in summer. Timing of burning did not significantly affect abundances of deer mice Peromyscus maniculatus or lodgepole chipmunks Neotamias speciosus or overall small mammal biomass (results presented as model outputs). Nine plots, 15–20 ha in area, were studied. Three were burned between 28 September and 28 October 2001 and three were burned on 20 or 27 June 2002. Three plots were not burned. Treatments were allocated randomly to plots. Small mammals were sampled by live-trapping over eight consecutive nights and days each year. Sampling occurred in June–August 2001 (pre-treatment) and in June–September of 2002 and 2003 and June–August 2004.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Littlewood, N.A., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K., Martin, P.A., Lockhart, S.L., Schoonover, R.F., Wilman, E., Bladon, A.J., Sainsbury, K.A., Pimm S. and Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Terrestrial Mammal Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions for terrestrial mammals excluding bats and primates. Synopses of Conservation Evidence Series. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

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Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation
Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation - Published 2020

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

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