The role of spatial heterogeneity of the environment in soil fauna recovery after fires

Abstract

Forest fires are almost always heterogeneous, leaving less-disturbed sites that are potentially suitable as habitats for soil-dwelling creatures. The recovery of large soil animal communities after fires is therefore dependent on the spatial structure of the burned habitats. The role of locally less disturbed sites in the survival of soil macrofauna communities along with traditionally considered immigration from the surrounding undisturbed habitats is shown by the example of burnt areas located in three geographically distant regions of European Russia. Such unburned soil cover sites (perfugia) occupy 5–10% of the total burned habitats. Initially, perfugia are characterized by much higher (200–300% of the average across a burned area) diversity and abundance of soil fauna. A geostatistical method made it possible to estimate the perfugia size for soil macrofauna at 3–8 m.