RAPID: Synergistic effects of habitat fragmentation and climate-change driven megafire on biodiversity in a large-scale experiment

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

The natural world is changing in many ways that threaten ecological systems. A big question is whether the threats interact, with some making others much worse than otherwise expected. This project will examine the interaction of two threats, fire and habitat fragmentation (the breaking up of large forests into many small forest fragments), on insects in Australia. Researchers will test how the location of small unburned areas may act as refugia (safe spaces) for beetles, helping them recover in some burned fragments but perhaps not in others. Without nearby refugia, impacts of fire may be especially bad. The project will take advantage of a huge fire in January 2020 that burned through a very big and long-running forest fragmentation experiment. The fire has provided a fleeting opportunity to study how effects of fire may interact with those of habitat fragmentation. Researchers will find and map refugia, relate them to fragment size and habitat, and estimate how many species were wiped out by the fire. Results will allow researchers to figure out how impacts of fire and fragmentation may be related. Also, results will critically inform the management of fragmented forest under increased fire risk. Relative to their enormous biodiversity and importance in ecosystem function, the impact of severe fire on forest invertebrates is poorly studied. A long, continuous record of beetle biodiversity (over 700 species) before the fire, together with the existing large-scale experimental manipulation of the landscape into habitat fragments, provides a rare opportunity to study possible synergistic effects of fragmentation and fire. The study will provide the first data to evaluate such effects on biodiversity loss and recovery, and the role of small refugia. Additionally, this study of initial conditions and ecosystem trajectory after a severe fire will provide a baseline for long-term study of the drivers of recovery in fragmented forest systems impacted by extreme events that are becoming more common. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.