FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Buteo lagopus | Rough-Legged Hawk 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
There are no reported mortalities of rough-legged hawks from fire in the
literature.  It is likely that fire mortality of raptors is confined to
nestlings [26]; the placement of most rough-legged hawk nests makes this
very unlikely.


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
There has only been one review of the relationship between raptor
habitat and fire and no specific information was available for
rough-legged hawk [36].

Fire Effects on Prey Species:  Fire usually causes temporary declines in
populations.  Vegetation recovery after fire usually increases available
vegetative biomass.  Small mammal population declines are compensated
for in 1 or 2 years [23].  In a study of the effects of vegetation
manipulation on small mammal populations, Cornely and others [9]
compared burned plots to untreated plots and plots that had been mowed.
Montane vole (Microtus montanus) populations were low immediately
following a November 1978 prescribed fire, but were higher than any
other treatments on burned plots in January 1980.  Immediately after
burning, rodent populations were lower on burned plots than on untreated
plots [9].

Open habitats that are frequented by rough-legged hawks and dependent on
fire include grassland, semidesert grass-shrub, and sagebrush (Artemisia
spp.)-grassland.  Grasslands are maintained by frequent fire (1- to
10-year average fire return intervals).  Fire exclusion in the deciduous
forest-prairie ecotone has reduced available rough-legged hawk winter
habitat.  Increased shrub densities have occurred in the last 80 years
in semidesert grass-shrub habitats.  These habitats typically have
average fire-free intervals of 10 years; the causal mechanism for the
increase in shrub density is not well understood; primary causes are
probably increased grazing, and increased fire intensity and frequency due
to fire exclusion and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion.
Sagebrush-grass habitats, with fire-free intervals ranging from 20 to
100 years, have also been altered by cheatgrass invasion which probably
has increased fire frequency [26].


FIRE USE : 
NO-ENTRY


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Buteo lagopus | Rough-Legged Hawk