Rove beetle (Staphylinidae) assemblages following the cumulative effect of wildfire and linear footprint in Boreal treed peatlands of northeastern Alberta (Canada)

Cumulative effects of anthropogenic and natural disturbances have become
increasingly relevant in the context of biodiversity
conservation. Oil and gas (OG) exploration and extraction
activities have created thousands of kilometers of linear footprints in
boreal ecosystems of Alberta, Canada. Among these disturbances, seismic
lines (narrow corridors cut through the forest) are one of the most common
footprints and have become a significant landscape
feature influencing the maintenance of forest interior habitats and
biodiversity. Wildfire is a common stand-replacing natural
disturbance in the boreal forest, and as such, it is hypothesized that its
effects can mitigate the linear footprint associated with OG exploration,
but only a few studies have examined its
effectiveness. We studied the short-term (1 year
post-fire) response of rove beetle assemblages to the
combined effects of wildfire and linear footprint in
forest, edge and seismic line habitats at burned and unburned peatlands
along the southwest perimeter of the 2016 Horse River wildfire (Fort
McMurray). While rove beetle species richness was higher in
seismic lines in both burned and unburned habitats compared to the
adjacent peatland, diversity was greater only in seismic lines of burned
areas. Abundance was lower in the burned adjacent peatland but similarly
higher in the remaining habitats. Assemblage composition on seismic lines
was significantly different from that in the adjacent forest and edge
habitats within both burned and unburned sites. Moreover, species
composition in burned seismic lines was different to either unburned lines
or burned forest and edge. Euaesthethus
laeviusculus and Gabrius picipennis were indicator
species of burned line habitats, are sensitive to post-fire landscape and
can occupy wet habitats with moss cover more efficiently than when these
habitats are surrounded by unburned forest. Although these results are
based on short-term responses, they suggest that wildfire did not reduce
the linear footprint, and instead, the cumulative effect of these two
disturbances had a more complex influence on rove beetle recovery at the
landscape level than for other invertebrates. Therefore, continued
monitoring of these sites can become useful to evaluate changes over time
and to better understand longer-term biodiversity responses to the
cumulative effects of wildfire and linear disturbances in boreal treed
peatlands, given the long-lasting effect of such disturbances.