FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Peromyscus maniculatus | Deer Mouse 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Causes of direct mortality due to fire include burns, heat stress,
asphyxiation, physiological stress, trampling by other animals, and
predation.  Indirect causes include loss of food supply, loss of nest
sites, predation, increased parasitism and disease, increased
competition, and changes in social interaction.  Small mammals such as
the deer mouse often survive fire by moving into underground burrows or
by moving to unburned areas [37].  Mortality within burrows is difficult
to assess but hypothesized to be low [62,64].  Wirtz [128] reported that
deer mice survived chaparral fires in burrows.  No dead animals were
found after prescribed fire in mixed-grass prairie, a community
inhabited by deer mice [110].  There are a few reports of direct
mortality of deer mice from fire.  Chew and others [21] found two
carcasses of Peromyscus species in 1.7-acre (0.7 ha) transect after a
chaparral wildfire in an area supporting both deer mice and California
mice (P.  californicus).  Attempts to radiotrack deer mice during a
prescribed fire were largely unsuccessful; one female burrowed under an
8-inch (20 cm) diameter log that was scorched by the fire but did not
burn.  The mouse survived the fire [111].  In west-central Oregon
Douglas-fir stands, Gashwiler [43] observed deer mice on clearcut and
slash-burned (October) areas while fires were still active; some were
captured within 2 feet (0.6 m) of a smoldering fire.  He reported that
12 of 16 (75% of) mice marked prior to the fire were recaptured on the
burned area within 15 days of fire initiation.  In November, 13 of the
16 original marked animals were recaptured on the burned area.  The
total number of deer mice captured on the burn (21) was three times the
number of deer mice captured on the adjacent unburned control plot [43].

In some instances, deer mice leave the burn area immediately after a
fire, possibly due to the presence of loose ash or to a lack of food.
Tevis [123] reported that one-third of the deer mice marked before a
broadcast (slash) fire were recaptured in the postfire period; all but
four were captured on the edge of the burn but none were recaptured on
the burned area.  Colonizers did not enter the burned area until
rainfall packed down the deep ash layer.  By 2.5 weeks after the fire,
deer mouse numbers were twice the prefire level [123].  Four deer mice
marked prior to a prescribed fire in oak savanna were not caught again
after the fire; the cause for their absence was unknown (possibilities
include fire mortality, predation, death by other causes, and
emigration) [120].


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
In many communities deer mice abundance was higher on burned areas than
on adjacent unburned areas by the first growing season after fire.  In
other communities there was no clear response, and in some communities
deer mice decreased after fire.  Deer mice are often the first animals
to invade an area that has been burned [3,37,80].  Burned areas often
support increased numbers of insects and seeds of annual plants which
are beneficial to deer mice [58].  In many reports deer mouse abundance
was negatively correlated with amount of litter [52].  Fire in grassland
immmediately reduces litter and aboveground vegetation; total biomass
usually is higher than prefire levels by the summer following a spring
prescribed fire [101].  Deer mice in grasslands tend to use burned plots
more than adjacent unburned plots [90,101].  In Minnesota tallgrass
prairie, prairie deer mouse populations were negatively associated with
litter depth; large beetles (a favored food of deer mice) were
associated with sparse litter [121].  Fire in ecotones may increase
available habitat for prairie deer mice.  In Wisconsin deer mice were
only found on frequently burned areas where woodland had been
successfully converted to brush-prairie [6].

The success of the deer mouse on burned areas is attributed to its
nocturnal habits, erratic movements, tolerance of open space/bare
ground, and lack of competition [96].  In Californa the ratio of deer
mice to California mice decreases with succession from grassland
created by prescribed fire to mature chaparral [7].  In Yellowstone
National Park, deer mice were able to find adequate food the first
growing season after wildfire, even though plant cover was less than 10
percent [30].  In Kansas tallgrass prairie deer mice selected recently
burned areas over areas that had burned in previous years.  These areas
were characterized by a large proportion of exposed soil, lush
vegetation, and little or no plant litter [64].  In Arizona ponderosa
pine forests, the increased number of deer mice after fire was
attributed to increased food and cover in the form of stumps and fallen
logs; the highest deer mouse populations occurred in the areas with
significantly more cover and forbs [75].

In northern Idaho, deer mice were the most commonly trapped small mammal
on the Trapper Peak Burn (in subalpine fir [Abies lasiocarpa)] 3 years
after fire [115].  In Kansas tallgrass prairie deer mice increased after
fire largely due to immigration from unburned areas.  The positive
reponse to fire was evident by July following an April fire, and
continued through the following spring [62,64].  In eastern Oregon grass
and forb-dominated flood meadows, deer mouse numbers were higher on
control plots than on burned plots the first year following a fall
prescribed fire.  Deer mouse numbers were, however, four times greater
on burned areas than on control areas the third winter after the fire
[27].  In northern California brushfields deer mouse numbers remained
relatively constant in burned areas even though the deer mouse
population crashed due to drought in control areas [24].  In California
chaparral deer mice disappeared immediately after a wildfire, were
present within 1 year after the fire, and reached a maximum population
the third year after the fire [93].

The frequency of fire affects deer mouse abundance.  In Kansas tallgrass
prairie, deer mouse abundance was higher the first year after fire on
plots burned every 4 years than on annually burned plots.  The average
relative density of deer mice in all 4 years of a 4-year fire cycle was
also higher than the average relative density with annual fire [62].  A
similar result was obtained in New Brunswick mixed-grass prairie; annual
fires resulted in lower deer mouse abundance than fires at longer
intervals [110].

Although deer mouse populations generally increase within a year after
fire, effects are variable, especially in nonforested habitats.  Lists of
reports describing positive, negative, and neutral responses to fire
follow.

In the following studies, deer mice were more abundant on burned areas
than on adjacent unburned areas, or were more abundant on burned areas
than on the same area prior to fire.  Numbers in parentheses indicate
postfire year(s) of peak deer mouse abundance (numbers in brackets are
reference numbers).

Grassland and Prairie
California:  annual grassland [70]
central Wisconsin:  spring prescribed fire in marshland (1) [52]
South Dakota:  spring prescribed fire in mixed-grass prairie (1) [37]; 
   2 years after the fire deer mouse numbers had dropped to below 
   prefire levels [14,15,38]
Kansas:  spring and fall prescribed fire in tallgrass prairie (1);
   numbers declined to prefire levels by the second year [62]
southern Illinois:  plots in annually burned tallgrass prairie had
   higher deer mouse densities than unburned plots [100]
New Brunswick:  mixed-grass prairie (1) [110]

Deciduous woodlands
Minnesota:  prescribed fire in bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) savanna 
   and tallgrass prairie [120]

Chaparral and Scrub
California:  chaparral (3) [94],  chaparral [7], chaparral; deer mice
   were not present in prefire samples,  nor on control plots, but were
   common in burned plots (2) [129]

Pinyon-Juniper
Nevada:  severe prescribed fire reducing pinyon-juniper to grassland (1) [80]
Utah:  chained and burned pinyon-juniper (2) [4]
Colorado:  pinyon-juniper [32]

Sagebrush
Nevada:  fall prescribed fire in sagebrush/grass [82]
Wyoming:  fall prescribed fire in mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia 
   tridentata ssp. vaseyana)/grassland (2) [83]

Forest
Oregon:  clearcut and slash-burned Douglas-fir [58]
California:  clearcut and slash-burned Douglas-fir (1) [123]
Arizona:  ponderosa pine (1) [75], severe spring wildfire in ponderosa
   pine [18]
South Dakota:  annual prescribed fire in ponderosa pine and adjacent 
   grasslands [106]
Colorado:  wildfire in lodgepole pine [98]
Wyoming:  wildfire in lodgepole pine [113]
southeastern  Manitoba:  clearcut and slash-burned jack pine (1) [108]
northeastern Minnesota:  cut and burned jack pine stands (1,3) [1]
north-central Ontario:  logged and slash-burned upland black spruce
   (Picea mariana) and northern hardwoods [78]

In the following studies deer mice were less abundant on burned plots
than on adjacent unburned plots or were less abundant on burned plots
than on the same plots prior to fire:

Grassland
Illinois:  prescribed fire in restored tallgrass prairie; there was 
   no resident population of deer mice on adjacent unburned areas to 
   supply immigrants [112]

Chaparral
California:  chaparral [70]

Sagebrush
Washington:  wildfire in antelope bitterbrush-big sagebrush [39]
eastern Idaho:  severe wildfire in big sagebrush/grassland; deer 
   mice used both burned and unburned areas [50]
southwestern Idaho:  prescribed fire in shrub-steppe; deer mouse 
   abundance 1 year after fire was lower on burned and seeded grasslands
   than on partially burned or control plots [49]

Forest
Wyoming:  deer mice were abundant on both burned and unburned coniferous
   forest plots; peak abundance occurred in August on unburned plots [109]

In the following studies, deer mice showed no preference for either
burned or unburned plots:

Grassland
southeastern Arizona:  big sacaton (Sporobolus wrightii) [13] 
Minnesota:  fall prescribed fire in tallgrass and shortgrass prairie, 
   sampled 10 months after the fire [20]

Chaparral
southern California:  coastal sage scrub [91] 


FIRE USE : 
NO-ENTRY


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Peromyscus maniculatus | Deer Mouse