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Project ID: 12-1-06-46

Year: 2012

Date Started: 09/01/2012

Ending Date:  08/31/2015

Title: Compatibility of Fire Management with Conservation of Endangered Species

Project Proposal Abstract: Ecological site descriptions (ESDs) and state-and-transition models (STMs) describe existing and potential plant communities and the ecological dynamics therein. Relating wildlife responses to STMs shows great promise for understanding how wildlife responds to natural succession, disturbance events, or management activities. In Oklahoma and Texas, two federally endangered songbirds, the black-capped vireo (Vireo atricapilla; hereafter vireo) and the golden-cheeked warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia; hereafter warbler) occupy habitat maintained by fire or affected by wildfire. Through coordination of fuels and fire management activities with habitat and population conservation plans for both species is necessary, limited knowledge of how vireos and warblers respond to fire have resulted in management uncertainties. Recent wildfires in Oklahoma and Texas provide a unique opportunity to assess the responses of vireos and warblers to a wide range of fire effects. We will develop species-specific STMs that represent successional phases of vireo and warbler habitat given pre- and post-fire habitat characteristics. We will then link vireo and warbler demographic information to models that depict plant community transformations, which will be translated into a tool that allows managers to minimize negative effects or enhance positive effects on vireo and warbler habitat and populations. Our research will not only provide a broad-scale assessment of vireo and warbler responses to the recent wildfires, but will also inform management aimed to sustain endangered species habitat across broad landscapes. Our broad study area includes the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma and the northern and eastern portions of the Edwards Plateau in Texas. During the past 25 years in Oklahoma and 10 years in Texas, we have gathered substantial data sets on the distribution, abundance, and general behavior of both the vireo and warbler. Thus, we have already gathered the preliminary data that are a prerequisite for developing the more focused study of endangered species and fire ecology and management proposed herein. We will choose specific sites to sample within our broader study area based on fire history, pre-fire vegetation phases, and known vireo or warbler occurrence. In year one, we will collect field data on warbler and vireo responses to fire, and use these data to verify and refine our vegetation phase classifications and to quantify transitions between the vegetative states. During year 2 we will gather data from new study locations to test and refine our predictive STM models. We will quantify abundance and productivity (i.e., pairing success and nest survival) using standard methods for point count surveys and territory monitoring. Using mixed models, we will predict vireo and warbler responses as a function of the post-fire vegetation, time since fire, and weather conditions. Our approach will provide a predictive model for which land managers can then assess conditions at a site and determine the appropriate fire prescription to illicit the desired demographic response from vireos or warblers. Combined with predictive models of vegetative responses to varying fire intensities, this approach directly addresses questions associated with how to maintain habitat, where and when to plan fire management activities, how to implement these activities to best enhance positive effects to vireos or warblers, how varying fire intensity alters successional phases, and potential climate change impacts. By examining these responses over time, land managers can assess intervals until optimal habitat returns to a burned area and create landscape-level management approaches.

Principal Investigator: Michael L Morrison

Agency/Organization: Texas A&M University-College Station

Branch or Dept: Texas AgriLife Research

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Budget Contact	Diane M. Gilliland	Texas A&M University-College Station	Texas AgriLife Administrative Services
Co-Principal Investigator	Joseph A. Grzybowski	University of Central Oklahoma	College of Mathematics & Science
Co-Principal Investigator	Heather A. Mathewson	Texas A&M University-College Station	Texas AgriLife Research
Collaborator/Contributor	Bret A. Collier	Texas A&M University-College Station	Texas AgriLife Research
Collaborator/Contributor	Ashley M. Long	Texas A&M University-College Station	Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences
Collaborator/Contributor	Tiffany M. McFarland	Texas A&M University-College Station	Texas AgriLife Research
Grants and Agreements Contact	Diane M. Gilliland	Texas A&M University-College Station	Texas AgriLife Administrative Services
Lead Reviewer	Charles X. Kwit	University of Tennessee-Knoxville	Department of Plant Sciences

Project Locations

Consortium

Great Plains

Level	State	Agency	Unit
STATE	OK	FED	Other Federal Lands
STATE	TX	MULTIPLE

Project Deliverables

There is no final report available for this project.
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Supporting Documents

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