Amphibians and Fire in Longleaf Pine Ecosystems: Response to Schurbon and Fauth

Abstract

3%ofthisonce-widespreadecosystem remains (Ware et al. 1993). Longleaf pine sa-vannas are home to at least 35 amphibian, 46 reptile, 45bird, and 36 mammal species, many of which depend al-mostexclusivelyonlongleafpinesavannas(Means2004).Manyresearchershaveconcludedthattheseandotheran-imals benefit from maintenance of longleaf pine savannaby prescribed burning (Mushinsky 1985; Engstrom 1993;James et al. 1997). Because natural fires no longer sweepthrough remaining tracts of longleaf pine, land managersmust apply prescribed burns to simulate the rejuvenat-ing effects of fire (Brennan et al. 1998). In the past twodecades, the frequency of prescribed burns has been rec-ommended on ever shorter intervals to restore habitatfeatures eroded by decades of fire suppression (Engstromet al. 1984; Cox et al. 1987; Weigl et al. 1989; Engstrom1993; Tucker & Robinson 2003; Means 2004).Schurbon and Fauth (2003) suggest decreasing the fre-quency of prescribed burns from the current 2–3 years to3–7 years in order to “better maintain diverse amphibianand plant” assemblages in southern pine forests. Theirsuggestion was based on a 1-year study of amphibianssampled at 15 ponds within the Francis Marion NationalForest, South Carolina. We believe that their study designand sampling effort were inadequate and, therefore, thattheir conclusions may be invalid. For reasons elaboratedbelow, we discourage land managers from following theirrecommendationandsuggestthata1-to3-yearfire-returninterval be the goal for prescribed fire in pine forests ofthe southeastern U.S. coastal plain.