Carefully managed fires generate
the maximum diversity of birds and mammals in savannas, new research from the
University of York suggests.
In the first continent-wide study
of the effects of fire on bird and mammal diversity in
the African savanna environment,
researchers have found that increasing "pyrodiversity" boosts the
variety of species of mammals by around 20% and of birds by 30% in savannas with
high rainfall.
The researchers observed that
varied burning regimes enabled geographically rare birds such as the
Rufous-tailed Weaver and the Black-bellied Sunbird to live alongside more
common species.
They now hope to be able to
provide conservationists and local populations with guidance and advice on how
to use fire as an effective tool.
Lead author of the study, Dr
Colin Beale from the Department of Biology at the University of York, said:
"Fire is often viewed as homogeneous, but in reality there is a range of
different fires characterised by variation in size, intensity, season and
frequency of burning. We found that in wet savanna increasing the range of
different types of fire in an area allows a wider number of species to thrive.
"Fire is widely thought to
have a negative impact on the environment, but in African savannas hominids
have been setting a variety of fires for around a million years so fire is
something the ecosystem has co-evolved with and adapted to."
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