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Fish and Wildlife Habitat

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Incorporating pyrodiversity into wildlife habitat assessments for rapid post-fire management: A woodpecker case study

Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type

Spatial and temporal variation in fire characteristics—termed pyrodiversity—areincreasingly recognized as important factors that structure wildlife communitiesin fire-prone ecosystems, yet there have been few attempts to incorporatepyrodiversity or post-fire habitat dynamics into predictive models of animaldistributionsandabundancetosupportpost-firemanagement.Weusetheblack-backed woodpecker—a s

Predicting snag fall in an old-growth forest after fire

Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
Snags, standing dead trees, are becoming more abundant in forests as tree mortality rates continue to increase due to fire, drought, and bark beetles. Snags provide habitat for birds and small mammals, and when they fall to the ground, the resulting logs provide additional wildlife habitat and affect nutrient cycling, fuel loads, and fire behavior.

Snag-fall patterns following stand-replacing fire vary with stem characteristics and topography in subalpine forests of Greater Yellowstone

Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
Standing dead tree stems (snags) become abundant following disturbances like bark beetle outbreaks and stand-replacing fire. Snags are an important element of wildlife habitat, and when they eventually fall can injure or damage people and infrastructure and contribute to coarse wood and fuels accumulation.

Making choices: prioritising the protection of biodiversity in wildfires

Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type

Biodiversity is in chronic decline, and extreme events – such as wildfires – can add further episodes of acute losses. Fires of increasing magnitude will often overwhelm response capacity, and decision-makers need to make choices about what to protect. Conventionally, such choices prioritise human life then infrastructure then biodiversity.