Effects of Fire Regime on Faunal Composition and Dynamics

Abstract

In view of the apparent largescale occurrence of fire over evolutionary time in much of South Africa, the fauna is, not unexpectedly, often well adapted to it. Such adaptation has apparently taken a number of forms, and ranges from escape mechanisms which are typical of some species, to a range of survival mechanisms practised by others. Such differences in the strategies which permit the different species to survive in a fire-prone environment inevitably give rise to a wide range of short and long-term responses to fire. The populations of some species, and in particular those which escape fire, may be largely unaffected directly by a fire event, but their survival in the long term may be dependent on the habitat which is induced by fire. In contrast, the populations of some species may be reduced considerably by a fire event, but they may possess the capacity to recover rapidly in the post-fire environment. Yet other species occupy only those sites from which fire has been excluded for some time, and such species are therefore confined largely to fire refuges. However, even within the three examples of broad behavioural classes mentioned, large differences in the behaviour of individual species may exist.