Mammalian carnivore use of a high-severity burn in conifer forests in the San Bernardino mountains of southern California, USA

Abstract

Using camera trapping, I investigated carnivore occurrence in a high severity burn for four years in mixed conifer forests in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California, USA. The objectives of this study were to catalog carnivores present in burned and unburned forests and, employing negative binomial regression analysis, to compare visitation of the burned and unburned forests by three carnivores: Lynx rufus , Canis latrans and Urocyon cinereoargenteus . In the summer of 2008, I placed 12 cameras along roads in a 9 km 2 area that burned in a stand-replacing wildfire and another 12 cameras in an adjacent unburned area of similar size. Ten mammalian carnivores were photo-captured in 2976 camera days; all the species were captured in the burn area and seven in unburned area. Lynx rufus was equally frequent in the burned and unburned forests. Canis latrans was more prevalent in unburned than burned forests and Urocyon cinereoargenteus preferred the burn area and was highly nocturnal in burned and unburned forests.