Prescribed fire is an increasingly popular habitat management technique used to promote biodiversity and maintain plant communities, yet little is known about the effects of this technique on many taxa, including land snails. Prescribed fires could have direct negative effects on land snails given their low dispersal ability and sensitivity to desiccation, or positive or negative indirect effects via changes in snails’ habitat structure or resources. In this study, we sought to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of a frequent prescribed fire regime on the diversity and composition of a land snail community. To examine the effects of prescribed fire on diversity and community structure, quadrats were sampled in woodland and grassland habitats burned one, three, and five years ago, and not burned (as a control). This study took place in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, at Fort Indiantown Gap National Guard Training Center, an active military installation where an extensive prescribed fire regime has been implemented and rigorously documented since 2003.
Results/Conclusions
Preliminary results indicate that time since last prescribed fire and habitat type both strongly affect land snail community composition and abundance. We observed significant differences in the community composition and abundance between sites burned three years ago and all other burn treatments, and between sites in woodlands and grasslands. Differences in community composition and abundance by burn treatment and habitat type were driven primarily by three species: Glyphyalinia indentata, Ventridens virginicus, and Neohelix albolabris. These results suggest that land snail taxa vary in their long- and short-term responses to prescribed fire in both woodland and grassland habitats. Further, the lack of differences between burned and unburned (control) sites suggests that direct negative effects of prescribed fires on snails may be limited. Instead, the indirect effects of prescribed fires on land snails may play a larger role. These indirect effects on snails could occur via changes in soil chemistry or vegetation structure resulting from prescribed fires themselves or from succession processes initiated by prescribed fires.