FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Neotoma cinerea | Bushy-Tailed Woodrat 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Bushy-tailed woodrats can probably escape most fires by taking refuge in
rocky habitats.  A study in California showed that during a prescribed
fire, woodrats (Neotoma spp.) evaded harm by escaping to rock outcrops
[19].  Woodrats that do not escape to these refugia may be killed by
fire [33].  Bushy-tailed woodrats residing in riparian areas are
probably protected by their habitat, which tends to burn infrequently
and in a patchy pattern.


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
Specific information was not available regarding the effects of fire on
bushy-tailed woodrat habitat.  Fire regimes vary in the communities in
which bushy-tailed woodrats occur.  For example, the mean fire-free
interval for Douglas-fir communities in southwestern Montana is about 40
to 45 years [35].  Western hemlock forests along the coast have a
fire-free interval of about 750 years.  Before the arrival of European
settlers, redwood forests burned about every 200 to 500 years [36].

Bushy-tailed woodrats are found in early successional through climax
stages of succession.  Their presence depends more on cover and food
availability than on seral stage.  In the spruce-fir zone of northern
Utah, for example, bushy-tailed woodrats were found in meadows and aspen
stands.  These communities are commonly the first successional stages
after fire [27].  In the Sierra Nevada, bushy-tailed woodrats often
inhabit early successional stages of Jeffrey pine and lodgepole pine,
which are commonly created by fire [2,23].  Some berry-producing plants
which provide food for bushy-tailed woodrats such as blackberries,
raspberries, and gooseberries, often thrive after fire [32].  However,
severe, stand-destroying fires that consume the organic layer can kill
the roots of many berry-producing shrubs, reducing the potential for
sprouting and delaying revegetation [26,31]

Mature trees and old growth are also used by bushy-tailed woodrats.  In
some areas of southwestern Oregon, where rocky environments are not
available, bushy-tailed woodrats may use fire-created cavities in trees
as nest sites.  Carey [3] found a bushy-tailed woodrat den in an
old-growth tree having a fire-scar opening 3 feet (0.9 m) high and 2
feet (0.6 m) wide at the base.



FIRE USE : 
NO-ENTRY


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Neotoma cinerea | Bushy-Tailed Woodrat