Fires affect fauna in aspects that impact their habitat. Reoccurrence of wild land fires lead to shaping of landscapes and dictates productivity (Smith, 2000). In most cases, fires lead to short lived increase of food for the wild animals. This in turn causes an increase in the number of some of the animals. This increase can lead to a profound increase of herbivorous animals. However, the potential increase is regulated by the ability of the animals to survive in the changes environment after the fire. Apart from herbivores, fires also favor raptors. This is so because fire eliminates the cover that hides prey.
Fire regimes also affect fauna in various ways. Stand-replacement fires are known to cause significant changes in wildlife in forests as compared to those found in grasslands (Smith, 2000). The fire kills most of the vegetation found above the ground and this leads to an alteration in the structure of vegetation. Stand-replacement fires cause a change in animal communities in a great way as compared to understory fires. The stand-replacement fires lead to a decrease in the quality of living conditions for animals that need increased cover and improve habitat for those animals that require open conditions. For forests and woodlands, understory fires affect the structure of a habitat with less impact as compared to stand-replacement and mixed severity fires (Smith, 2000). In addition, the effect of understory fires on fauna is reduced as compared to other fire regimes
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Different animals are adapted to cope with the changes in the intensity and frequency of fire, season and uniformity characteristic of their initial living conditions. In cases where the frequency or severity of fires changes dramatically, habitat for most animal populations reduces (Smith, 2000). Apart from frequency and severity, fire regimes also dramatically impact how animals respond to fire. This affects the wildlife at all ecosystem levels. Those animals that are native to environments that have a long history of fire outbreaks are able to thrive in environments that are shaped by fire. Actually, most of those animal species in areas with history of fires survive as a result of the impact of the fire in the long term. However, fires also cause deaths in fauna or movement of the wildlife. Mortality and movements of the wild animals are immediate effects of fires on animals. This is determined by the magnitude of the fire, severity, speed in the spread and uniformity.
The response of fauna to fire in the long term is greatly influenced by the changes in the structure of the habitat structure which controls aspects such as feeding, reproduction etc (Smith, 2000). Changes in fire regimes leads to changes in landscape and these alterations impact habitat. The alterations in habitats in turn lead to dramatic changes in fauna. The response of animals to fire is determined by the season, severity etc. In addition to death and migration, other responses by the animals include injury and emigration (Smith, 2000). Those animals with reduced ability for mobility such as the young ones and the slow animals are at an increased risk for injury and death as compared to the mature and swift animals.
In conclusion, most studies and research done on wild land fires prove that changes in the organization of animal populations occur as a result of fire. The level of the fire impact is mostly determined by the magnitude of change in the structure of the animals’ habitat and community composition as a result of the fire. In addition, the changes caused by the fire are the ones that affect animals’ populations more than the fire itself directly.
Reference
Smith, J. K. (2000). Wildland fire in ecosystems: Effects of fire on fauna. doi:10.2737/rmrs-gtr-42-v1
