IMPACT OF FIRE ON SMALL VERTEBRATES IN MALLEE WOODLANDS AND HEATHLANDS OF TEMPERATE AUSTRALIA - A REVIEW

The short- and long-term post-fire response patterns of small mammals, reptiles and amphibians inhabiting mallee woodlands and heathlands in temperate Australia are reviewed with respect to species' life histor y parameters in a search for unifying trends. Pyric response patterns of small mammal species are closely lied to their shelter, food and br eeding requirements. There is a trend of increased specificity and red uced flexibility in life history traits concomitant with increased imp act of fire and later post-fire recolonization. For reptiles there app ears to be a strong relationship between the shelter and foraging requ irements of species and their abundance in various successional states . The high incidence of burrowing in the mallee/heath amphibian fauna imparts considerable resilience to fire, and most species' abundance a nd distribution patterns seem more closely linked to moisture regimes than to fire per se. The high degree of consistency between species' p ost-fire response patterns and their life history parameters points to the feasibility of developing a model to predict the impact of fire o n small vertebrates. Such a model is currently being developed