Pyrodiversity and fire severity effects on taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, and space use by mammals in the Cerrado
Fire, tropical savanna, herbivores, carnivores, marsupials, rodents, community ecology
Disturbances like fire alter the spatial and temporal distribution of resources for fauna and generate environmental heterogeneity. Consequently, animals may modify their use of the space in response to fire-induced changes. How animals respond to fire effects depends on the species' traits, affecting the communities taxonomically and functionally. We used linear regressions to test the hypothesis of “pyrodiversity begets biodiversity” for taxonomic and functional metrics of mammalian communities of a neotropical savanna. We also applied occupancy modeling to evaluate how spatiotemporal variation in fire regime affects the use of space by medium and large mammals. Also, we verified the effects of fire severity on non-volant small mammal communities of gallery forests. Our results demonstrated that mammal taxonomic and functional richness increased with pyrodiversity while taxonomic diversity and functional dispersion were higher at intermediate values of pyrodiversity. At the population level, we found species-specific effects of fire regime on the space used by mammals. Chrysocyon brachyurus used more intensively pyrodiverse areas and sites with a higher proportion of recently burned areas. In contrast, Tapirus terrestris preferred sites with lower pyrodiversity. Fire mosaic did not affect space use by deer. In gallery forests, fire severity positively affected taxonomic diversity and functional dispersion of small mammals. However, this effect occurred at the expense of a marked decrease in forest-dependent species in sites severely burned. This study contributes to reducing gaps in the knowledge concerning the fire effects on neotropical medium and large mammals and reinforces that fire management strategies must consider the local context and species-specific faunal responses to fire. Furthermore, we highlight the urgency of protecting fire-sensitive habitats against severe wildfires. As extreme wildfire events become more frequent there is a risk of losing fundamental components of biodiversity not fire-adapted.