Post-fire recovery in fire-sensitive tropical forests: the role of habitat loss and resilience thresholds
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Fire is a major driver of ecological change in tropical forests, yet the combined effects of fire history and habitat loss on frugivorous birds and post-fire vegetation recovery remain poorly understood. We evaluated how fire severity, extent, and frequency-together with forest cover-shape frugivore abundance and influence short-term (≤ 10 years) forest resilience in the Cantareira-Mantiqueira Corridor, southeastern Brazil. Using frugivore surveys conducted at fixed points across 15 landscapes, combined with satellite-derived fire metrics and kNDVI-based estimates of engineering resilience, we applied a set of hypothesis-driven Generalized Linear Models and segmented regressions. Fire characteristics alone did not explain frugivore abundance; however, a strong interaction between fire severity and forest cover revealed that forest cover buffered fire impacts under a low severity but failed under high-severity conditions, leading to marked declines in frugivore abundance. Forest recovery was primarily governed by fire characteristics rather than by frugivore abundance. Fire extent showed a linear negative effect on kNDVI trend, while fire frequency displayed nonlinear behavior, with a threshold near three fire events beyond which recovery became highly variable and unpredictable. Together, these findings provide evidence that fire and habitat loss interact to shape frugivore communities, and that repeated burning can push fire-sensitive tropical forests toward resilience thresholds. Effective conservation and restoration strategies must therefore integrate both fire prevention and habitat maintenance to safeguard ecosystem recovery.
Source: Oecologia
Language: English
Topic: Fire effects on ecosystems
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Life on land, Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,790
Awards: Visual analytics of environmental data collected with passive acoustic monitoring, G1453178258, G1699546312, G1862965043, Primate resilience in an anthropogenic landscape, G2222667725, G2443848946, Biodiversity in the Anthropocene: a synthesis on the effect of agriculture expansion within Cerrado and Atlantic Forest, G330318113, Biodiversity in the Anthropocene: agroecosystem effects on biodiversity conservation and ecosystem function maintenance, G3779098575, G466262808, Contribution of payment for ecosystem services on multi-dimensions within Atlantic Forest, G5341151995, G6230245843, New sampling methods and statistical tools for biodiversity research: integrating animal movement ecology with population and community ecology, G752009504, Biodiversity and associated ecosystem services: LTER Corridor of Cantareira Mantiqueira, Center for Research on Biodiversity Dynamics and Climate Change, Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Innovation - RCG2I, G965297776
OpenAlex ID: W7118987319