FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Brachyramphus marmoratus | Marbled Murrelet 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Adult marbled murrelets can probably easily escape fire.  Fire has the
potential to adversely affect marbled murrelet reproductive success if
it destroys the nest tree and/or kills the egg or nestling.


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
Because marbled murrelets depend on mature or old-growth stands for
nesting and roosting, fires that destroy or reduce the size of these
stands will probably have an adverse effect on marbled murrelet
populations.  However, marbled murrelets sometimes nest in unlogged
mature or large sawtimber stands burned 80 to 200 years ago where open
crown canopies or steep slopes exist to provide access to and from large
limbs [16].

Marbled murrelets nest in habitat types characterized by long fire free
intervals.  Sitka spruce stands in western Washington typically have a
fire free interval of 1,146 years or more.  Along the northern and
southern Oregon coast, Sitka spruce has a fire free interval of 200 to
400 years.  Fires that do occur in Sitka spruce are usually stand
replacing.  Western hemlock forests along the coast have a fire free
interval of about 750 years [31].  Coastal redwood is tolerant of
low-severity fires which appear to have occurred on mesic sites at
200-to 500-year intervals before the arrival of European settlers
[15,31].


FIRE USE : 
NO-ENTRY


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Brachyramphus marmoratus | Marbled Murrelet