Effects of prescribed burning on amphibian diversity in a southeastern U.S. National Forest
-
Published source details
Schurbon J.M. & Fauth J.E. (2003) Effects of prescribed burning on amphibian diversity in a southeastern U.S. National Forest. Conservation Biology, 17, 1338-1349.
Published source details Schurbon J.M. & Fauth J.E. (2003) Effects of prescribed burning on amphibian diversity in a southeastern U.S. National Forest. Conservation Biology, 17, 1338-1349.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
| Action | Category | |
|---|---|---|
|
Use prescribed fire or modifications to burning regime in forests Action Link |
 |
-
Use prescribed fire or modifications to burning regime in forests
A site comparison study of 15 ponds in a pine forest in South Carolina, USA (Schurbon & Fauth 2003) found that amphibian abundance and species richness increased with time since prescribed burns. Abundance of all amphibians and frogs and toads increased significantly with time since burning. This was not the case for salamanders. Amphibian species richness also increased significantly over time following burns. This was likely to be because salamanders were rarely encountered at sites burned within two years, but became more abundant with time. Amphibians were monitored at 15 ponds with five different prescribed burn (in winter/spring) histories: 0, 1, 3, 5 and 12 years after burns. Drift-fences, tree-frog shelters, calling censuses, minnow trapping and visual surveys were used.
