Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography

136. Landers, J. L. 1987. Prescribed burning for managing wildlife in southeastern 
          pine forests. Pages 151-159 in Society of American Foresters. Forests, 
          the world, and the profession. Proc. 1986 Soc. Am. For. Nat. Conv., 
          5-8 October 1986, Birmingham, AL. Soc. Am. For. Publ. 87.02 [Also 
          published in 1987 with the same title as: Pages 19-27 in J.G. Dickson 
          and O.K. Maughan, eds. Managing southern forests for fish and wildlife: 
          a proceedings. U.S. For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. S0-65.]

There is much ecological evidence that recurring fires have been a long-standing evolutionary agent of habitat change to which native wildlife are adapted in the Southeast. Wildlife mortality from fire is generally negligible. Literature on fire effects upon reptiles and amphibians, birds (nongame forest and upland game), and mammals (small, tree squirrels, rabbits, furbearers, black bear, white-tailed deer) are summarized. In general, little is known of fire effects upon truly aquatic herps. Although the American alligator and Pine Barrens tree frog benefit from habitat change caused by fire, more research is needed on other aquatic and semiaquatic wildlife. Fire directly affects the abundance of a species through changes in vegetation. Prescribed burning is a very underutilized tool for management of southeastern pine forests, but a critical evaluation is needed before its usefulnes can be fully realized in even a single-species plan, e.g., if the habitat is decadent, the fire might provide quick benefits; if not, fire might set back the target species in the short term. Research needs are listed. [K-L-S]

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