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Grassland Fire and Cattle Grazing Regulate Reptile and Amphibian Assembly Among Patches

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Abstract

Fire and grazing are common management schemes of grasslands globally and are potential drivers of reptilian and amphibian (herpetofauna) metacommunity dynamics. Few studies have assessed the impacts of fire and cattle grazing on herpetofauna assemblages in grasslands. A patch-burn grazing study at Osage Prairie, MO, USA in 2011–2012 created landscape patches with treatments of grazing, fire, and such legacies. Response variables were measured before and after the application of treatments, and I used robust-design occupancy modeling to estimate patch occupancy and detection rate within patches, and recolonization and extinction (i.e., dispersal) across patches. I conducted redundancy analysis and a permuted multivariate analysis of variance to determine if patch type and the associated environmental factors explained herpetofauna assemblage. Estimates for reptiles indicate that occupancy was seasonally constant in Control patches (ψ ~ 0.5), but declined to ψ ~ 0.15 in patches following the applications of fire and grazing. Local extinctions for reptiles were higher in patches with fire or light grazing (ε ~ 0.7) compared to the controls. For the riparian herpetofaunal community, patch type and grass height were important predictors of abundance; further, the turtles, lizards, snakes, and adult amphibians used different patch types. The aquatic amphibian community was predicted by watershed and in-stream characteristics, irrespective of fire or grazing. The varying responses from taxonomic groups demonstrate habitat partitioning across multiple patch types undergoing fire, cattle grazing, and legacy effects. Prairies will need an array of patch types to accommodate multiple herpetofauna species.

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Acknowledgments

I thank the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Columbus Zoo for funding. K. Sullivan and L. Gilmore were key players in the burning and grazing execution of this study. I especially thank all my fellow froggers for field assistance: T. Laskowski, T. Thompson, S. Whittaker, C. Larson, J. Maine, W. Dodds, and L. Bansbach. Valuable manuscript comments were provided by B. Sandercock, K. Gido, J. Whitney, W. Dodds, M. Daniels, M. Whiles, M. Troia, J. Perkin, and three anonymous reviewers. This research was conducted under the IACUC protocol (#2953) and the Missouri State Wildlife Collection Permits (#SC-137-2010, #SC-001-2011, #15084).

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  1. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 104 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Danelle M. Larson

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave., Pocatello, ID, 83209, USA

    Danelle M. Larson

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Correspondence to Danelle M. Larson.

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Larson, D.M. Grassland Fire and Cattle Grazing Regulate Reptile and Amphibian Assembly Among Patches. Environmental Management 54, 1434–1444 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0355-2

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