Impacts of wildfire and windfarm construction and operation on herpetofauna community ecology

Abstract

Climate change and its associated impacts threaten global biodiversity. Increases in wind energy harvesting to reduce carbon emissions, coupled with increases in wildfire frequency and severity, may pose risks to wildlife. I investigated potential impacts of windfarm operations and wildfire on herpetofauna biodiversity, anuran calling behaviour, and snake health, in an area where both impacts occurred simultaneously. I measured biodiversity metrics using squamate cover surveys and anuran acoustic monitoring across 4 replicated site treatments: Control, Wind, Burn, and WindBurn (double impact). Anuran diversity, evenness, richness, and relative abundances were lowest in Wind sites, whereas metrics in Burn sites did not differ from those in Control sites. Squamate total abundance was lowest in WindBurn sites, but other investigated metrics did not differ between impacted and non-impacted sites. More research using a Before- After-Control-Impact (BACI) study design is needed to understand the acute and chronic impacts of these disturbances on at-risk wildlife species.