FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Cygnus buccinator | Trumpeter Swan 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Nonmolting adult trumpeter swans can probably easily escape fire.
Molting adults, cygnets, and eggs are probably most susceptible to fire.
During a 1969 summer fire at Kenai National Moose Range, Alaska, a
trumpeter swan family with two cygnets was sighted in the water while
spruce trees torched and went up in flames on the opposite shore.
Despite heavy smoke, a pair of trumpeter swans with three cygnets was
observed for several days on nearby Cow Lake during periods of active
fire around the lake.  This family moved away from the fire from one end
of the lake to the other, but did not leave the lake even though the
young had fledged.  Nests of trumpeter swan at Mink Creek Lake and
Beaver Lake were reestablished during the spring of 1970.  Although
their surroundings remained fire scarred, seven cygnets hatched at Mink
Creek, and one hatched at Beaver Lake [9].


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
No specific information was found in the literature regarding
fire-related effects on trumpeter swan habitat.  Fire occuring in wetland
habitats, however, often removes excessive accumulations of fast-growing
hydrophytes, permitting better waterfowl access and growth of more
desirable trumpeter swan foods such as pondweed and duckweed [19,21].

There may be some negetive effects of burning waterfowl habitat.
Large-scale autumn burning may have a detrimental effect upon marshes by
reducing the retention of drifting snow.  The ability of marsh vegetion
to catch and hold snow is vital to marsh survival [22].


FIRE USE : 
Prescribed burning is an effective method of manipulating waterfowl
habitat [19].  Fire can be used to convert forested uplands adjacent to
aquatic habitats to grasses and sedges, which are more suitable for
trumpter swan nesting [21].  Additionally, removal of dense vegetation
and prevention of woody species encroachment is vital to prairie marsh
maintenance [22].  Less dense vegetation allows more space for waterfowl
activities [19].  Ward [22] reported that spring burning in marshlands
is primarily done to remove vegetation and create more nesting edge for
waterfowl.  Summer fires are used to create more permanent changes in
the plant community.  Prescribed burning during the nesting season
should be avoided so as not to disturb nesting females and/or destroy
nests.


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Cygnus buccinator | Trumpeter Swan