• DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMAL
• HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS
• FIRE USE

DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMAL:

There are no data available on fire effects on salamanders. It is likely that fire has little direct effect on long-toed salamanders. Adults are rarely active above ground; when they are active, it is usually under cool, moist weather conditions [13] that occur outside the fire season. During the dry season, adult long-toed salamanders are generally either in burrows, where they are relatively safe from fire, or under moist rotten logs or moist vegetation mats that are not likely to burn except except under extreme fire weather conditions.

If caught in the open during a fire, long-toed salamanders would probably be killed. They are very slow-moving [2], and probably cannot escape even slow-moving fire. Even if missed by fire, they probably could not survive the heat. High temperatures are lethal to long-toed salamanders. In the laboratory, adults from northeastern Oregon and western Idaho were killed by water temperatures that ranged from above 91 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit (33-36 ^oC) [13].

HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS:

Adult and subadult long-toed salamanders use logs and large branches for cover, and larvae use floating and submerged downed woody debris of all size classes for cover [2]. Fire that increases downed woody debris while retaining some overhead shade probably improves habitat structure of long-toed salamanders.

FIRE USE:

No entry

Related categories for SPECIES: Ambystoma macrodactylum | Long-Toed Salamander