BAT COMMUNITY SHIFTS POST-FIRE IN THE SIERRA NEVADA | |||
Abigail Marshall; US Forest Service; abigail.marshall@usda.gov; Rachel Bauer, Sandra Mayne, Grace Henke | |||
Large-scale and high severity fires are increasing in frequency across the Sierra Nevada mountains, leading to shifts in the habitat elements available for different bat species across the landscape. Wildfire can affect individual bat species occupancy both positively and negatively and is predicted to favor species adapted to foraging in open habitats. In 2021, the Dixie Fire burned throughout a large portion of the Plumas National Forest, creating a unique opportunity to revisit sites sampled prior to the fire (2015-2021) and examine changes in bat communities post-fire. In 2022 and 2023, we resurveyed 10 study sites, 7 within the Dixie Fire footprint and 3 in unburned forests, using Pettersson 500x bat detectors to record ultrasonic echolocation calls and Sonobat software to analyze recordings. Species presence-absence was then compared between the pre- and post-fire sampling results. Preliminary analysis indicates a shift in bat communities post-fire. These results further support the importance of managing for pyrodiversity in coniferous forests of the Sierra Nevada. | |||
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