Wombat burrows are hotspots for small vertebrates in a landscape subject to gigafire

Ecosystem engineers modify their environment and influence the availability of resources for other organisms. Burrowing species, a subset of allogenic engineers, are gaining recognition as ecological facilitators. Burrows created by these species provide habitat for a diverse array of other organisms. Following disturbances, burrows could also serve as ecological refuges, thereby enhancing ecological resistance to disturbance events. We explored the ecological role of Common Wombat (Vombatus ursinus) burrows using camera traps in forests of southeastern Australia. We compared animal activity at paired sites with and without burrows, from the same fire severity class and habitat. We examined how animal activity at Common Wombat burrows was affected by the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires in Australia. We predicted that burrows would serve as hotspots for animal activity and as refuges in burned areas. The activity of several species including Bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes), Agile Antechinus (Antechinus agilis), Lace Monitor (Varanus varius), Painted Button-quail (Turnix varius), and Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica) increased at sites where Common Wombat burrows were present, while other species avoided burrows. Species that were more active at burrows tended to be smaller mammal and bird species that are vulnerable to predation, whereas species that avoided burrows tended to be larger mammals that might compete with Common Wombat for resources. Species composition differed between sites with and without burrows, and burrow sites had higher native mammal species richness. The association of several species with burrows persisted or strengthened in areas that burned during the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires, suggesting that Common Wombat burrows may act as ecological refuges for animals following severe wildfire. Our findings have relevance for understanding how animals survive, persist, and recover following extreme wildfire events. This dataset was provided to the ALA in the CamtrapDP data exchange format https://camtrap-dp.tdwg.org/) and transformed into a Darwin Core event-based dataset. captureMethod: activityDetection

生态系统工程师（ecosystem engineers）会改造自身生存环境，并影响其他生物的资源可获得性。掘洞物种作为他源生态系统工程师（allogenic engineers）的一个子类，正逐渐被认可为生态促进者。这类物种挖掘的洞穴为多样的其他生物提供了栖息场所。在受到外界干扰后，洞穴还可作为生态避难所，进而提升生态系统对干扰事件的抵抗能力。

本研究利用红外相机陷阱（camera traps），在澳大利亚东南部的森林中探究了普通袋熊（Vombatus ursinus）洞穴的生态作用。我们选取了相同火险等级与生境类型下的成对样地，对比了有普通袋熊洞穴与无洞穴样地的动物活动情况；同时分析了2019—2020年澳大利亚“黑色夏季”丛林大火对普通袋熊洞穴周边动物活动的影响。我们提出预测：普通袋熊洞穴可成为动物活动的热点区域，并为受火灾影响的区域提供避难场所。

研究结果显示，在存在普通袋熊洞穴的样地中，澳洲林鼠（Rattus fuscipes）、敏捷袋鼩（Antechinus agilis）、花边巨蜥（Varanus varius）、彩鹑（Turnix varius）与灰鵙鸫（Colluricincla harmonica）等多个物种的活动频率显著提升，而另有部分物种则会回避这类洞穴。

在洞穴周边活动更为频繁的物种多为体型较小的哺乳类与鸟类，这类动物往往面临较高的捕食风险；而回避洞穴的物种则多为体型较大的哺乳类，它们可能会与普通袋熊争夺生存资源。

有洞穴与无洞穴的样地物种组成存在显著差异，且有洞穴的样地本土哺乳动物物种丰富度更高。

在2019—2020年“黑色夏季”丛林大火的过火区域中，多个物种与普通袋熊洞穴的关联依然存在，甚至有所增强，这表明普通袋熊洞穴可在严重野火过后为动物提供生态避难所。

本研究结果有助于理解极端野火事件后动物的生存、存续与恢复机制。

本数据集以CamtrapDP数据交换格式（https://camtrap-dp.tdwg.org/）提交至澳大利亚生物多样性图集（ALA），并被转换为基于达尔文核心（Darwin Core）的事件型数据集。捕获方法：活动检测（activityDetection）