Impact of fire on small vertebrates in mallee woodlands and heathlands of temperate Australia: A review

Abstract

The short- and long-term post-fire response patterns of small mammals, reptiles and amphibians inhabiting mallee woodlands and heathlands in temperate Australia are reviewed with respect to species' life history parameters in a search for unifying trends. Pyric response patterns of small mammal species are closely tied to their shelter, food and breeding requirements. There is a trend of increased specificity and reduced flexibility in life history traits concomitant with increased impact of fire and later post-fire recolonization. For reptiles there appears to be a strong relationship between the shelter and foraging requirements of species and their abundance in various successional states. The high incidence of burrowing in the mallee/heath amphibian fauna imparts considerable resilience to fire, and most species' abundance and distribution patterns seem more closely linked to moisture regimes than to fire per se. The high degree of consistency between species' postfire response patterns and their life history parameters points to the feasibility of developing a model to predict the impact of fire on small vertebrates. Such a model is currently being developed.