Wildfires and Endangered Species in Chaparral

This map shows the number of threatened and endangered species in each quarter quadrangle hit by the 2009 wildfires

The top map shows where the fires occurred in Los Angeles County, while the bottom map demonstrates the pattern and time of fire expansion and its proximity to roads and urban infrastructure

Fire is a natural part of Southern California's mediterranean chaparral biome - a number of plants even require the flames to germinate.  Human disturbances, however, have increased fire frequency throughout the world, including in the San Gabriel Mountains of Angeles National Park, where some estimate that over 95% of fires are anthropogenic.  (Syphard et al 2007, Syphard et. al 2006)  This high fire frequency damages ecosystems and the species within them.  In August and September of 2009, successive fires struck Angeles National Park and hit habitat that is hugely biodiverse, and home to a number of endemic species and 16 species on the Federal and California Endangered Species lists.

Though chaparral flora and fauna are evolved to deal with fire, the successive fires that are separated by only a short period of time can be deleterious to their survival.  Vegetation in the Santa Monica Mountains is mainly chaparral and coastal sage, though there are some oaks and grasses as well.  Plants that depend on fire for germination are actually the most harmed by frequent fires, and are threatened with replacement by non-native grasses.  (Syphard et al. 2006)  

Not much is known on the effects of wildland fires on chaparral fauna.  However, in terms of short-term recovery (on the order of about one year), presence of native vegetation, proximity to riparian habitats, and presence of rocks enable fauna to recover from fire more rapidly.  (Diffendorfer, 2012) According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, fires endanger the Santa Anna sucker and other aquatic species of the Santa Monica Mountains via direct death from flames, threatening riparian vegetation that shades and mitigates water temperature, or causing sedimentation and ash runoff that causes river turbidity and decreased water quality.  (USFWS, 2010) Birds such as the Coastal California gnatcatcher are also impacted as the fires destroy the coastal sage scrub which the Gnatcatcher depends on, and gnatcather populations declined significantly after fires in 2003.  (USFWS, 2007) As seen in the above map, at least two rare, threatened, or endangered species live in each quarter quadrangle that the 2009 fires hit.  

Syphard et al. (2006) also notes that fire frequency increases with proximity to human infrastructure.  Note on the fire boundary progression map that the fire began along one of the roads near the urban area encroaching on Angeles National Park.  In addition to raising fire risks for wildlife, urban areas pose other threats to wildlife.  Habitat fragmentation, noise disturbances that interfere with bird calls, and pollution are all brought to the chaparral ecosystem.  Furthermore, notice in the maps that the incidence of threatened and endangered species increases with proximity to urban areas.  

Though chaparral ecosystems like those in the San Gabriel Mountains have dealt with fires for thousands of years, human activities have increased fire frequency to a point that could be very deleterious to some species.  The fire expansion pattern of the 2009 wildfires support the notion that proximity to human infrastructure increases the rate of fire, and that fire threatens species whose populations are already in danger. 

Map Credits and Data Sources
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/apfoapp?area=home&subject=prog&topic=q05
http://imaps.dfg.ca.gov/viewers/cnddb_quickviewer/app.asp
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/biogeodata/cnddb/mapsanddata.asp
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/biogeodata/cnddb/pdfs/TEAnimals.pdf
http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/ssp.html
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/list_proced.html
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:x5OqZntktEoJ:www.dfg.ca.gov/biogeodata/cnddb/pdfs/TEPlants.pdf+california+state+and+federal+endangered+spceies&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESha8N6coqgvAMghM4CaUudbk7TK0HsmgyaTkz8fYxTcxAnYHaqpVyXJ2zGAUCX_2p9CnsAXanVryYa2yiqpyVzoJR2PgCxOf40fpIVPlUi929pgF35DdSx6fw8ignVzF0I_bpTs&sig=AHIEtbRXHILX_Z5LbSVVfbympQ8mUcsxTA
http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html
http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm

References
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service 50 CFR Part 17 RIN 1018-AV38   Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Revised  Designation of Critical Habitat for the Coastal California Gnatcatcher  (Polioptila californica californica) AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. December 19, 2007.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Fish and Wildlife Service. 50 CFR Part 17. [Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2009-0072; 92210-1117-0000-B4] RIN 1018-AW23. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Revised Critical Habitat for Santa Ana Sucker. AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.December 14, 2010.

Diffendorfer, Jay, G.M. Fleming, S. Tremor,  W. Spencer, J. L. Beyers.  The role of fire severity, distance from fire perimeter and vegetation on post-fire recovery of small-mammal communities in chaparral.  International Journal of Wildland Fire 21(4): 436-448. 

Syphard AD, Franklin J, Keeley JE.  Simulating the effects of frequent fire on southern California coastal shrublands. 2006.  Ecol Applications 16(5):1744-56.

Syphard, Alexandra D., V. C. Radeloff, J. E. Keeley, T. J. Hawbaker, M. K. Clayton, S.I. Stewart, and R.B. Hammer. 2007. Human Influence on Fire Regimes. Ecological Applications 17:1388–1402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/06-1128.1