Fire Regimes and the Demography of the LizardMicrablepharus atticolus(Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) in a Biodiversity Hotspot

Abstract

Abstract. Disturbance caused by anthropogenic fires are increasingly affecting the biodiversity of fire-prone ecosystems worldwide. The Cerrado biodiversity hotspot suffers higher deforestation rates than Amazonia and concentrates most of the burned areas in South America. To support adequate fire-management decisions in Cerrado, knowledge on the effects of altered fire regimes upon its animal populations is necessary. Based on a long-term, large-scale fire experiment, we investigated the effects of different fire regimes on the demography of the gymnophthalmid Micrablepharus atticolus, an endemic lizard of the Cerrado. Because M. atticolus is more abundant in open habitats, we predicted that frequent burns should favor its populations. Over eight years, we conducted a mark-recapture study using pitfall trap arrays in five 10 ha plots of cerrado sensu stricto, subjected to prescribed burns. Using generalized linear mixed-models of time series data and an information theoretic approach to select demographi...