Fire is a global disturbance that has a strong influence on biodiversity. Seasonal fires are common in neotropical savannas of South America, yet few studies have analyzed how the fauna of these habitats and nearby forests respond to fire. We evaluated the effects of fire on the community of non-volant small mammals in the Colombian llanos by comparing their populations in both unburned (no record of fire for the last 20 years) and recently burned areas (three years after the last fire event). Vegetation structure was monitored at 240 plots. We used hierarchical single-season occupancy modeling to determine potential effects of fire on small mammal detection and occupancy. Our results indicate that fire has long-term effects on plant diversity and richness, as well as on the species composition. Three years after the last fire event, the average richness of plant species at burned sites was lower than at unburned sites. Fire also affected the distribution of vegetation strata leading to an increased abundance and diversity of plants in the ground and herbaceous strata in burned plots. The hierarchical models indicate that mammals’ occupancy tracks these changes in vegetation structure. However, the effect of fire was not consistent among species. We found that fire may restrict (Didelphis marsupialis), promote (Zygodontomys brevicauda) or have no impact (Oecomys sp.) on the mammals’ distribution depending on how each species uses the strata that disappeared because of fire. These findings provide evidence toward wildfire prevention for biodiversity conservation in fire-sensitive ecosystems of northern South America.

火灾是对生物多样性有重大影响的全球性干扰。季节性火灾在南美的新热带稀树草原很常见，但是很少有研究分析这些栖息地和附近森林的动物对火灾的反应。我们通过比较未燃烧（过去20年未发生火灾的记录）和最近燃烧过的地区（上次火灾发生后的三年）的种群数量，评估了火灾对哥伦比亚拉诺斯非挥发性小型哺乳动物群落的影响。在240块土地上监测了植被结构。我们使用了分层的单季节居住模型来确定火灾对小型哺乳动物检测和居住的潜在影响。我们的结果表明，火灾对植物的多样性和丰富度以及物种组成具有长期影响。上次火灾发生三年后，燃烧地点的植物物种平均丰富度低于未燃烧地点。火灾还影响了植被地层的分布，导致被烧土地中地面和草本地层植物的丰度和多样性增加。层次模型表明，哺乳动物的居住情况跟踪了植被结构的这些变化。但是，火种的影响在物种之间并不一致。我们发现火灾可能会限制（火的影响在物种之间并不一致。我们发现大火可能会限制（火的影响在物种之间并不一致。我们发现火灾可能会限制（Disphis marsupialis），促进（Zygodontomys brevicauda）或对哺乳动物的分布没有影响（Oecomys sp。），这取决于每种物种如何利用因火而消失的地层。这些发现为预防南美洲北部对火敏感的生态系统中的生物多样性的野火预防提供了证据。