FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Anas crecca | Green-Winged Teal 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Fire during the nesting season can destroy green-winged teal nests [6].
However, green-winged teal hens may continue to nest after fire.
Fritzell [6] reported that after a spring fire in 1970, a green-winged
teal removed one charred egg from a burned nest and laid four additional
eggs.  Ducklings and molting adults are especially vulnerable to fire.
Adult nonmolting green-winged teal can probably easily escape fire.


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
Green-winged teal nesting cover can be removed by fire [6,13].  After
spring burning and mowing at Souris National Wildlife Refuge, North
Dakota, there were 13 percent fewer nesting pairs of seven dabbling duck
species (green-winged teal included) along mowed and burned areas than
where cover was untouched [13].  However, forested uplands adjacent to
aquatic habitats can be converted to grasses and sedges by fire,
increasing the nesting potential of green-winged teal [17].  Large-scale
autumn burning may have a detrimental effect upon marshes by decreasing
their ability to catch and retain drifting snow which adds heavily to
spring run-off.  The ability of marsh vegetation to catch and hold snow
can be vital to marsh survival [18].  Fire often removes excessive
accumulations of fast-growing hydrophytes, permitting better waterfowl
access and growth of more desirable duck foods [17].


FIRE USE : 
Fire can be used to remove fast-growing, undesirable species such as
common reed (Phragmites australis) and increase desirable green-winged
teal foods such as pondweed and duckweed [15].  The best way to reduce
common reed with prescribed burning is to burn during early summer when
carbohydrate reserves in the plant are low and the soil is dry [8].

Controlled burning can be used to create nesting edge for ducks.
Removal of dense vegetation and woody encroachment is vital if prairie
marshes are to remain in this successional state [18].  According to
Ward [18], spring burning in marshlands is primarily done to remove
vegetation and create more nesting edge.  Summer fires are used to
create more permanent changes in the plant community.  Fire can also be
used to reduce predator activity through the elimination of hiding cover
[6].

If prescribed burning is used as a management technique, burning must be
completed well before or after the nesting season [18].  Land managers
who burn during the nesting season should consider partial burns.
Partial burns probably have less impact on total vegetation changes and
would result in higher recruitment of waterfowl than complete burns
would [19].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Anas crecca | Green-Winged Teal