Pyrodiversity interacts with rainfall to increase bird and mammal richness in African savannas |
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| Authors: | Colin M Beale Colin J Courtney Mustaphi Thomas A Morrison Sally Archibald T Michael Anderson Andrew P Dobson Jason E Donaldson Gareth P Hempson James Probert Catherine L Parr |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK;2. York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems, Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York, UK;3. Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK;4. Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;5. Natural Resources and the Environment, CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa;6. Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston‐Salem, North Carolina, USA;7. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA;8. South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Ndlovu Node, Phalaborwa, Kruger National Park, South Africa;9. Department of Earth, Ocean & Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK;10. Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | Fire is a fundamental process in savannas and is widely used for management. Pyrodiversity, variation in local fire characteristics, has been proposed as a driver of biodiversity although empirical evidence is equivocal. Using a new measure of pyrodiversity (Hempson et al.), we undertook the first continent‐wide assessment of how pyrodiversity affects biodiversity in protected areas across African savannas. The influence of pyrodiversity on bird and mammal species richness varied with rainfall: strongest support for a positive effect occurred in wet savannas (> 650 mm/year), where species richness increased by 27% for mammals and 40% for birds in the most pyrodiverse regions. Range‐restricted birds were most increased by pyrodiversity, suggesting the diversity of fire regimes increases the availability of rare niches. Our findings are significant because they explain the conflicting results found in previous studies of savannas. We argue that managing savanna landscapes to increase pyrodiversity is especially important in wet savannas. |
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| Keywords: | Bats birds conservation fire fire management
INLA
mammals protected areas |
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