South Texas Wildlife, Volume 15, Number 3, Fall 2011 Page: 1
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SOUTH TEXAS WILDLIFE
- AA publication of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
at Texas A&M University-Kingsville\ U:
~ _WHITHER WILL WILDFIRE
AFFECT WILDLIFE?
by Sandra Rideout-Hanzak
Wow. That is a lot of "w"s. And,
I admit, I had to look up "whither" to
be sure I was using it correctly. But,
in a year like this I thought it would
be appropriate to go to extremes to
describe wildfire.
At the time of this writing
(October 21), over 3.8 million acres
have burned in over 25,000 wildfires
Editor's Note: Dr. Sandra Rideout-Hanzak is a
Research Scientist at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife
Research Institute and Assistant Professor in the
Department of Animal, Rangeland, and Wildlife
Sciences at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.this year in Texas alone. T
nitely a year for extremes.
I think we can expect more
this in the coming decade
So, the question is h
these wildfires affect wild
wildfires really as deva
wildlife as mainstream me
like us to believe?
There are two types
that wildfires have on v
direct and indirect effect
effects are those effects
death) that happen to in
as a result of heat or sm
believe direct effects on w
rare because most indivi
able to run or fly away, or fFall 2011
Volume 15, No. 3* in an underground burrow or bare
area. Certainly, a few unfortunate
individuals will be caught between
merging flaming fronts, or when the
flaming front is between them and
their escape burrow, or they may be
too young to flee. But, reports of
these events are rare even after large,
fast-moving wildfires.
After the East Amarillo Complex
(EAC) wildfire of 2006 that burned
more than 900,000 acres in just four
days, one land manager told me
about finding entire coveys of quail
that were unburned, but dead. He
surmised that when the sky turned
dark with smoke quail went to roost
and were then overcome by smoke
c Felix Ayala inhalation. However, while spend-
ing three years studying the effects
of the EAC wildfire, I heard no
his is defi- more reports of groups of animals
However, dying. Dead wildlife attributed to
years like the wildfire mainly consisted of scat-
s. tered individuals, even though the
:w do all spread rate of the EAC wildfire was
life? Are unprecedented in recorded history.stating to
dia would
of effects
ildlife-
s. Direct
(injury or
dividuals
oke. We
ildlife are
duals are
nd refuge1
This Issue
W ildfire and W ildlife...................1
By The Numbers...................2
CKWRI News........................2
Did You Know9 ...........3
Avian Breeding Strategies..........3
What Do They Eat?................4
Advisory Board ...........4I
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Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute. South Texas Wildlife, Volume 15, Number 3, Fall 2011, periodical, Autumn 2011; Kingsville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth578881/m1/1/: accessed May 31, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.