Large wildfires result in more heterogeneous fire scars than do smaller fires because of differences in landscape context and high variability in burn intensity and severity. Previous research on mammal response to wildfire has often considered all fires as comparable disturbances regardless of size. Here, we explicitly examine whether fire size affects relative abundances of a keystone herbivore, snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777), in regenerating stands of the same age. We surveyed vegetation and fecal pellets of snowshoe hares in nine 13-year-old wildfires, specifically, three fires in three size categories—small (80 to 200 ha), medium (1000 to 5000 ha), and large (>10 000 ha)—and in mature forests in southern British Columbia, Canada. Snowshoe hare density was low (0.4 hares ha−1), but hares were present at 57% of mature sites. Hares were absent from all areas where small fires had burned and were found in only one medium area post fire (0.2 hares ha−1). Hares were found within the fire scars of all three large burned areas, and with much higher numbers (3.8 hares ha−1) than in the medium fire area or mature forest. Snowshoe hare abundance was highly correlated with the number of sapling trees, especially lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon). Sapling densities were highly variable, but dense stands of saplings were found only in burn scars from large wildfires. Fire size is an important predictor of snowshoe hare relative abundance in areas that are regenerating post fire; fires of different sizes are not comparable disturbances. Specifically, the post-fire heterogeneity after large fires enabled both the highest hare numbers as well as patches with no hares. These results suggest that forest and wildlife managers should protect areas with dense regeneration post fire, as these sites are necessary for hares after large wildfires.

中文翻译：

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野火大小对加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省南部雪鞋野兔相对丰度的影响

由于景观环境的差异以及燃烧强度和严重性的高变异性，大型野火导致的火灾疤痕比小型火灾更多。先前关于哺乳动物对野火的反应的研究通常将所有火种视为可比较的干扰因素，而不论大小。在这里，我们明确检查了火势是否会影响同一年龄的再生林中梯形食草动物雪靴野兔的相对丰度（Lepus americanus Erxleben，1777）。我们调查了9个13岁的野火中的雪鞋野兔的植被和粪便颗粒物，特别是三种火灾，分为三个大小类别：小型（80至200公顷），中型（1000至5000公顷）和大型（> 10000公顷） ）以及加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省南部的成熟森林中。雪鞋的野兔密度低（0.4野兔ha-1），但是在57％的成熟地点存在野兔。在发生小火的所有地区都没有野兔，仅在火灾后的一个中等区域（0.2公顷ha-1）发现野兔。在所有三个大面积烧伤地区的火灾疤痕中发现了野兔，野兔的数量（3.8公顷公顷-1）比中度火灾地区或成熟森林要高得多。雪鞋野兔的丰度与幼树的数量高度相关，尤其是木（Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon）。树苗的密度变化很大，但仅在大型野火的烧伤疤痕中发现了密集的树苗。火势是火灾后再生地区雪鞋野兔相对丰富度的重要预测指标；不同大小的火灾不是可比的干扰。特别，大火后的火后异质性使最高的野兔数量以及没有野​​兔的斑块成为可能。这些结果表明，森林和野生动植物管理者应保护大火后再生密集的地区，因为大火后野兔需要这些场所。