Colli, Guarino Rinaldi

Costa, Bernardo Miglio

de Queiroz, Tânia Andrade

de Sousa, Heitor Campos

Pantoja, Davi Lima

Portal de Revistas do ICMBio (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade)

1Instituto Federal de Educação Ciância e Tecnologia de Brasília - Campus Gama, Brasília, DF, 
Brazil 2Universidade Federal do Piauí - UFPI, Rodovia Municipal Bom Jesus-Viana, km 01, Bairro 
Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus, PI, Brazil3Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília, 
Brasília, DF, Brazil , grcolli@unb.br 
 
 
 Número Especial: 7a Conferência Internacional sobre Incêndios Florestais - Resumos 
 
 
Long-Term, Fire-Induced Changes in Habitat Structure and 
Microclimate Affect Cerrado Lizard Communities 
Alen Slijepcevic1*, Darrin McKenzie2 
 
ABSTRACT – Fire transforms the structure of natural habitats and, consequently, modifies 
microclimates affecting ectotherm organisms that are particularly susceptible to changes in the 
thermal environment. Nevertheless, the effects of fire-induced microclimatic shifts upon natural 
populations have been neglected. We measured the central tendency and variation of habitat 
structural and microclimatic variables in experimental plots of Neotropical savanna vegetation 
subjected to different fire regimes (control, biennial/early dry season, biennial/mid dry season, 
biennial/late dry season, quadrennial/mid dry season; one 10 ha replicate of each) and assessed 
their effects upon lizard community structure (15 species). In addition, we evaluated the 
underlying mechanisms linking fire-induced environmental changes to community structure, by 
comparing lizard body condition and survival between different fire regimes. A guided 
regularized random forest (GRRF) analysis indicated that fire suppression promoted increased 
tree density, canopy cover and leaflitter weight, whereas burning had the opposite effects, 
reducing the habitat structural complexity. A redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that (1) the 
best predictors of fire regimes were means of structural variables, but variances of microclimatic 
variables and (2) the reduced structural complexity of burned plots both increased and 
decreased the variation of microclimatic variables. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) 
revealed that lizard community structure was chiefly influenced by a gradient of decreasing tree 
density, canopy cover and leaf litter weight with increasing fire severity. About half of the lizard 
species were favored in the fire-protected plot, while the other half was favored in the burned 
plots, with most of the variation being explained by structural variables. Lizard body condition 
and survival rates were not affected by fire regimes, suggesting a dominant role of 
thermoregulation opportunities afforded by habitat structure—instead of food availability or 
predation rates—upon community structure. Our findings indicate that even sporadic fires can 
have profound effects upon lizard communities and that protecting some habitat patches from 
burning is essential to maximize lizard diversity in Cerrado landscapes. 
 
Keywords: Lizards; Cerrado; savanna; community structure; conservation; prescribed fire 
 
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Long-Term, Fire-Induced Changes in Habitat Structure and Microclimate Affect Cerrado Lizard Communities

http://www.icmbio.gov.br/revistaeletronica/index.php/BioBR/article/download/972/762

Long-Term, Fire-Induced Changes in Habitat Structure and Microclimate Affect Cerrado Lizard Communities

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