Meeting Abstract
128.1 Monday, Jan. 7 The Effects of Prescribed Burning on the Landscape and Reptile Abundance HOWEY, C.A.F*; ROOSENBURG, W.M.; Ohio University chris.howey@gmail.com
Prescribed burning has become a popular management tool throughout North America; a tool that creates a landscape representing an earlier successional forest. However, little is known regarding how reptile abundances may respond to these landscape changes. Over the past three years, we measured structural and thermal characteristics in addition to the abundance of reptiles in four burned plots and four unburned plots at Land-Between-The-Lakes NRA, Kentucky. We compared habitat characteristics and reptile abundances within plots between years and among plots within years using nonmetric multidimensional scaling and ANOSIM. We determined that habitat characteristics differed for all comparisons (P = 0.001). Burn plots had an increased percentage of grasses and forbs and less canopy cover than control plots. Snakes were able to achieve warmer body temperatures in burn sites. Whereas this was beneficial earlier in the year, it would constrain reptile activity later in the summer. Relative reptile abundance differed between treatments (burn vs. unburned; P = 0.029) and between years within the burn treatment (P = 0.010). In addition to a treatment effect, some reptile abundances were correlated to the thermal and habitat characteristics of plots. As abundance of leaf litter and percent canopy increased, abundance of Agkistrodon contortrix, Thamnophis sirtalis, Pantherophis spiloides, and Scincella lateralis increased. Additionally, as percent canopy and vegetation density decreased and percent grass, bare ground, and ground temperatures increased, abundance of Diadophis punctatus, Storeria dekayi, and Sceloporus undulatus increased. These changes also correlate to preferred body temperatures measured in the lab. We suggest that reptiles may not necessarily respond to the actual disturbance, but to the changes in habitat characteristics within the landscape.
