Abstract
Recent increases in the frequency and size of desert wildfires bring into question the impacts of fire on desert invertebrate communities. Furthermore, consumer communities can strongly impact invertebrates through predation and top‐down effects on plant community assembly. We experimentally applied burn and rodent exclusion treatments in a full factorial design at sites in both the Mojave and Great Basin deserts to examine the impact that fire and rodent consumers have on invertebrate communities. Pitfall traps were used to survey invertebrates from April through September 2016 to determine changes in abundance, richness, and diversity of invertebrate communities in response to fire and rodent treatments. Generally speaking, rodent exclusion had very little effect on invertebrate abundance or ant abundance, richness or diversity. The one exception was ant abundance, which was higher in rodent access plots than in rodent exclusion plots in June 2016, but only at the Great Basin site. Fire had little effect on the abundances of invertebrate groups at either desert site, with the exception of a negative effect on flying‐forager abundance at our Great Basin site. However, fire reduced ant species richness and Shannon's diversity at both desert sites. Fire did appear to indirectly affect ant community composition by altering plant community composition. Structural equation models suggest that fire increased invasive plant cover, which negatively impacted ant species richness and Shannon's diversity, a pattern that was consistent at both desert sites. These results suggest that invertebrate communities demonstrate some resilience to fire and invasions but increasing fire and spread of invasive due to invasive grass fire cycles may put increasing pressure on the stability of invertebrate communities.
Highlights
These results suggest that invertebrate communities demonstrate some resilience to fire and invasions but increasing fire and spread of invasive due to invasive grass fire cycles may put increasing pressure on the stability of invertebrate communities
The Great Basin and the Mojave Desert share a border from starvation and exposure while others report shifts in insect but are very different from one another, one is semi‐arid while the abundance and diversity after repeat burns
This study addressed the following in those areas, and grass‐feeding grasshoppers increased because questions: (a) What are the impacts of fire and rodent exclusion on of relatively higher grass cover in burned areas
Summary
The recent increase in the frequency and size of desert wilddocumenting plant–insect interactions (Ostoja et al, 2009) and rofires (Brooks et al, 2004) brings into question the direct and indent–insect interactions The Great Basin and the Mojave Desert share a border from starvation and exposure while others report shifts in insect but are very different from one another, one is semi‐arid while the abundance and diversity after repeat burns Despite these differences, both are facing a simi-. Great Basin and Mojave Deserts and whether they were related to declined in more frequently burned areas because of fewer forbs changes in the plant community. Total numbers of individuals of each taxa for the Mojave site, with the taxa separated by functional group
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
