I measured songbird abundance and vegetation cover in and around a 420-ha prescribed burn in a mountain big sagebrush community located at 2133 m elevation. Data were collected during the 3rd growing season after the fire. Brewer's Sparrow and Sage Thrasher occurred in lower abundance on sites that were largely or completely burned relative to sites that were outside the fire perimeter or within unburned islands of shrubs. The number of Brewer's Sparrow detections was linearly related to remaining sagebrush cover. In contrast, Horned Lark occurred at higher abundances on sites where shrub cover had been removed in the prescribed burn. Cover of perennial grasses and cover of 4 of the 5 most common forbs was greater on burned sites than on unburned sites.
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1 April 2007
SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF A PRESCRIBED BURN ON SONGBIRDS AND VEGETATION IN MOUNTAIN BIG SAGEBRUSH
Aaron L. Holmes
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Western North American Naturalist
Vol. 67 • No. 2
April 2007
Vol. 67 • No. 2
April 2007
Artemisia tridentata
Eremophila alpestris
Oreoscoptes montanus
prescribed fire
sagebrush
Spizella breweri