Abstract
The extent to which wildfire adversely affects spotted owls (Strix occidentalis) is a key consideration for ecosystem restoration efforts in seasonally dry forests of the western United States. Recently, Jones et al. (2016) demonstrated that the 2014 King Fire (a “megafire”) adversely affected a population of individually-marked California spotted owls (S. o. occidentalis) monitored as part of a long-term demographic study in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA because territory occupancy declined substantially at territories burned at high-severity and GPS-tagged spotted owls avoided large patches of high-severity fire. Hanson et al. (2018) attempted to reassess changes in territory occupancy of the Jones et al. (2016) study population and claimed that occupancy declined as a result of post-fire salvage logging not fire per se and suggested that the avoidance of GPS-marked owls from areas that burned at high-severity was due to post-fire logging rather than a response to high-severity fire. Here, we demonstrate that Hanson et al. (2018) used erroneous data, inadequate statistical analyses and faulty inferences to reach their conclusion that the King Fire did not affect spotted owls and, more broadly, that large, high-severity fires do not pose risks to spotted owls in western North American dry forest ecosystems. We also provide further evidence indicating that the King Fire exerted a clear and significant negative effect on our marked study population of spotted owls. Collectively, the additional evidence presented here and in Jones et al. (2016) suggests that large, high-severity fires can pose a threat to spotted owls and that restoration of natural low- to mixed-severity frequent fire regimes would likely benefit both old-forest species and dry forest ecosystems in this era of climate change. Meeting these dual objectives of species conservation and forest restoration will be complex but it is made more challenging by faulty science that does not acknowledge the full range of wildfire effects on spotted owls.
Highlights
The spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) has become an icon of conservation in North America because of conflicts amongst citizens, conservation groups, the timber industry, natural resource agencies and politicians arising over the best way to protect its economically valuable old-forest habitats (Simberloff 1987, Gutiérrez et al 1995; Gutiérrez 2015). This basic conflict has expanded in recent years to include disputes that weigh the potential degradation of owl habitat from restoration projects in dry forest ecosystems that seek to reduce severe fire risk against the potential risk posed to owl habitat by the increasing number of large, high-severity fires (Lehmkuhl et al 2007, 2015; Collins et al 2010; Tempel et al 2014, 2015, 2016)
We have demonstrated that Hanson et al (2018) used erroneous data, flawed statistical analyses, unsupported assertions and faulty inferences to reach their main conclusion that the King Fire did not negatively affect spotted owls and more generally that large, high-severity fires do not pose risks to spotted owls in dry forest ecosystems
Territory occupancy declined immediately following the King Fire and GPS-tagged spotted owls avoided a large area of high-severity fire, independent of salvage logging (Jones et al 2016); turnover rates were higher and survival lower for owls in territories affected by high-severity fires in north-western California (Rockweit et al 2017); and owls avoided high-severity burned areas in both the Timbered Rock fire and fires in Yosemite National Park (Comfort et al 2016, Eyes et al 2017)
Summary
Megafire effects on spotted owls: elucidation of a growing threat and a response to Hanson et al (2018). Julliard | Received 30 December 2018 | Accepted 19 February 2019 | Published 1 October 2019 http://zoobank.org/FBC0F1B8-A266-409D-A4BA-7BEB16F6EF9A
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