Forest Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Prescribed Fire On Moth Assemblages In The Boston Mountains And Ozark Highlands, In Arkansas, Erin E. Guerra, Cristina M. Blanco, Jorista Garrie

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

In addition to the impacts of prescribed fires on forest vegetation, this ecosystem process also has dramatic impacts on associated insect assemblages. For herbivorous, terrestrial insects, fire predictably results in a cycle of initial insect population reduction followed by recovery and growth, in which these insect populations exceed pre-fire abundances. We sought to examine if fire-induced disturbance cycles make prescribed burned areas more or less suitable specifically for moths (order Lepidoptera), which is a major food source for, among others, multiple bat species. We surveyed moth assemblages at 20 burned and 20 unburned sites in the Boston Mountain and Ozark …