LOW-INTENSITY PRESCRIBED FIRE DOES NOT AFFECT SALAMANDERS IN AN OAK-HICKORY WOODLAND

Abstract

The impact of fire on salamanders and salamander habitat was assessed in ten plots (five burned and five unburned) surrounding an amphibian breeding wetland within a mature oak-hickory woodland in southeast Michigan. Area-constrained surveys were conducted in each plot between 11 March and 3 June 2006 in which leaf litter and woody debris were searched for salamanders. Leaf litter density, soil temperature, and soil moisture were also measured to assess habitat conditions in burned and unburned plots. A total of 104 salamanders were captured during eleven sampling events: four blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale), three spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), one eastern newt (Notophtalmus viridescens) and 96 red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). There was no significant difference in captures of salamanders in burned and unburned plots (Wilcoxon paired samples test, p > 0.05). There was also no statistically significant difference in measured habitat characteristics in burned and unburned plots (paired t-test, p > 0.05). The lack of a statistical difference in salamander captures and habitat structure between burned and unburned plots may be due to the patchy nature of the prescribed fire, which left greater than 75% of two plots unburned. The practice of conducting low-intensity prescribed fire in oak-hickory woodlands does not appear to be harmful to salamanders when patches of land are left unburned. Further research should be conducted into the effects of fire specifically on Ambystoma salamanders and the eft phase of Eastern newts, as too few of these salamanders were captured to make reliable conclusions regarding their response to prescribed fire.