View article

Prescribed fires are widely used for oak (Quercus) regeneration in hardwood forests, but the reported effects on terrestrial salamanders are variable, with some authors describing little to no effect of prescribed fire on salamanders and others reporting negative results. Factors such as variable fire intensity, sampling methodology, and imperfect salamander detection, which vary by study, may influence the effects of prescribed fires on salamanders. We examined the response of red-backed (Plethodon cinereus) and zig-zag (Plethodon dorsalis) salamanders to prescribed fire in forests of the Midwest U.S., accounting for changes in salamander behavior and detection by accounting for capture probability, and considering the influence of local fire intensity. We also explored the effects of fire on environmental variables (leaf litter depth, soil moisture, soil temperature, and soil pH) to identify possible mechanisms driving …