Pyrodiversity promotes pollinator diversity in a fire‐adapted landscape

Abstract

Fire is a key determinant of vegetation structure and composition in ecosystems worldwide and is therefore an important management tool. The “pyrodiversity hypothesis”, which postulates that biodiversity will increase as fire diversity increases, remains largely untested for pollinators, a group of high conservation concern. We tested the relationship between pollinator diversity and pyrodiversity based on a decade of burn history in Florida, as well as testing other parameters, including burn frequency, the percentage of area burned during the year of sampling, canopy openness, and various plant metrics. Both bees and butterflies responded positively to pyrodiversity and to the percentage of area burned during the year of sampling. In addition, our results indicate that pollinators, especially butterflies, may be sensitive to high burn frequency. Our findings reveal the important role fire history plays in shaping pollinator communities and demonstrate that increasing burn heterogeneity can benefit this fauna in fire‐managed landscapes.